Chapter 493: Not Even Buying Cotton Cloth, What Kind of Special Envoy Are You!

The case of the "Unity Sect" created by Wang Xijue's daughter, who performed C-sections on forty-nine pregnant women to extract blood, was truly shocking. Therefore, Zhu Yijun would rather be scolded for not being open and inclusive enough than allow missionaries to proselytize. On this point, the court officials generally agreed with the Emperor's viewpoint.

The already complex contradictions of people and land, central and local, and vassal kings, plus a religion—if these gathered together, who knew what kind of heaven-defying and people-resenting things would be done? When the time came, would they scold the Emperor for being muddled, or scold themselves for not being clear-headed?

And Zhu Yijun letting Zhang Juzheng not worry about the imperial clan matter was giving Zhang Juzheng a reassurance pill. As long as the Emperor clearly stated he would not pursue it, this matter would truly end here. There wouldn't even be many people who would go to study the fact that the number of registered imperial clan members had plummeted from 100,000 to 60,000.

In the mainstream discourse of the scholar-official class, the Ming imperial clan are villains—the very worms of the imperial court. The massive imperial clan eats the court and the localities hollow; their boundless extravagance destroys the simple values of the Great Ming. They are the ones who compete in luxury and indulgence, the places where filth and corruption are hidden, and the ones who harbor and shelter suspects. Every single mistake is the fault of the feudal princes!

Zhang Juzheng's "Memorial on Current Politics" also identified the massive expenditure of the imperial clan as the first of the Great Ming's five diseases.

But after a detailed check, Zhang Juzheng discovered that the imperial clan was not massive at all; in total, there were only 60,000 registered members. Only 20,000 received stipends.

Zhang Juzheng kowtowed again to thank the imperial grace. The Emperor valued trust and kept his word. Since he had clearly stated to all court officials at this time that he would not pursue it, he truly would not flip the old accounts later.

Zhu Yijun leaned back in his chair and said happily, "Teacher, I heard an interesting story. It is said that the Censorate has 120 Investigating Censors in fifteen circuits. The Ministry of Personnel is already selecting censors for Suiyuan and Liaoning."

"A few days ago, a water carrier was delivering sweet water to the Censorate office. As a result, Investigating Censor Liu Kongyuan, who didn't know where he had suffered anger, saw the water carrier and flew into a rage, saying: 'How can a filthy, lowly person enter the hall of elegance?!'"

"This water carrier was a commoner; how dared he talk back to a Censor of the Censorate? He was ashamed and angry and had no choice but to leave."

"When the 'water nest' (water well owners) heard that this water carrier had been scolded by the Censor, they immediately kicked this water carrier out of the water nest."

"I have never heard of this matter. A water carrier is a poor commoner and a bitter laborer; why make things so difficult for him?" Zhang Juzheng's brows twisted into a knot. He thought of a poem, Bai Juyi's "The Old Charcoal Seller."

Just this one poem nailed Emperor Xianzong of Tang to the pillar of shame in history, because Bai Juyi personally made a note on this poem: "Bitter palace market."

The "palace" was the imperial palace, and the "market" was the market. The "palace market" was the palace's procurement. The eunuchs used half a bolt of red gauze and a zhang of silk to buy the charcoal seller's cart of 1,000 catties of charcoal.

The water carrier's nickname in the underworld was "Water Three," and the well where he drew water was called a "water nest." A water nest generally had a master, who was the owner of the sweet water well. One sweet water well had twenty or thirty water carriers who specifically walked the streets and alleys selling sweet water. There were not many sweet water wells in the Great Ming capital. Drinking too much bitter water caused hair loss and was prone to baldness.

And the matter Zhu Yijun spoke of was that a Water Three was delivering sweet water to the masters of the Censorate and was angrily scolded by an Investigating Censor as a "filthy, lowly person entering the hall of elegance."

Liu Kongyuan didn't know where he had suffered anger; actually, it was because he had submitted a memorial discussing state affairs and had been scolded bloody by the Emperor's vermilion comments. Liu Kongyuan felt he had extraordinary insight, but in reality, it was all clichés. The Emperor told him to watch and learn well and not to talk nonsense about things he didn't understand.

Liu Kongyuan vented his anger on the water carrier.

Zhu Yijun continued, "The interesting part of this matter is that this scolded water carrier couldn't even carry water, and no water carrier in the water nest was willing to deliver water to the Censorate office. They would rather not earn this money—anyway, they couldn't earn it. If they offended the Investigating Censor, it would be looking for trouble. So, the 119 Investigating Censors had no water to drink, and then they started angrily scolding Liu Kongyuan, scolding him until he was ashamed and angry, making a scene about wanting to resign."

"Ah? No water to drink?" Zhang Juzheng looked shocked. He blinked and said, "It seems it really can't be solved."

The water nest wouldn't deliver water; would the Investigating Censors not drink tea?

Yes, they wouldn't drink it.

Because the Investigating Censors were court officials and noble people. Noble people did not walk on lowly ground. Going to carry water was truly a disgrace to their status. With long robes and wide sleeves, they couldn't carry water. Wearing official uniforms and carrying water on the street—it would be strange if they weren't laughed at and pointed at behind their backs.

The rigidity and bloatedness of the government office were manifested to the extreme at this moment.

There were so many people in the office, although they didn't do anything and spent the whole day drinking tea and reading miscellaneous newspapers, they couldn't be arranged to go carry water. Everyone had their own things to do. If it wasn't within their scope of authority, adding a burden to others required a reason, and it had to be legitimate. Otherwise, this matter would be like a football, kicked back and forth, and would absolutely not be properly resolved.

If they wanted to add a person, it was even more troublesome; the Censorate had to go through the Ministry of Personnel.

The Investigating Censors were fundamentally unwilling to deal with the Ministry of Personnel led by Zhang Juzheng. If they wanted to add a person specifically to carry water, they were afraid that before they found a water carrier, they would first get a scolding.

The Investigating Censors could actually let the water nest deliver water to them, but the water nest was under the jurisdiction of the Shuntian Prefecture office. If they really went to find the Shuntian Prefecture Assistant Shen Yiguan to solve it, it would make an even bigger scene.

So in the end, it made a scene where the Censorate Investigating Censors had no water to drink tea, the masses were incensed, and they angrily scolded Liu Kongyuan for making trouble out of nothing. Liu Kongyuan submitted a memorial to resign without saying why. It was only after Zhao Mengyou sent someone to inquire that the Emperor learned the inside story.

Hence Hai Rui and Li Youzi were also too lazy to manage these Censors. They were busy with anti-corruption all day; where would they have the energy to manage whether there was water to drink? They could clean up the drama they had stirred up themselves.

"A funny and absurd scene." After Zhu Yijun finished speaking, he laughed. Zhu Yijun laughed, and Zhang Juzheng followed suit, laughing while shaking his head. It was indeed funny and absurd. It could only be said that people who didn't engage in production were just like this. The Censors of the Censorate didn't have bad backgrounds, and they hadn't suffered much hardship in their lives. They couldn't distinguish the five grains and generally had no sympathy for poor commoners and bitter laborers.

Zhu Yijun tried hard to suppress his laughter and continued, "Spoiled them! I issued an edict to Shen Yiguan yesterday, ordering all water nests in Shuntian Prefecture not to deliver water to the Censorate. If they want water, they have to carry it themselves!" Zhu Yijun slapped the table and said, "Cannot let them find this loophole, absolutely cannot!"

Zhang Juzheng also just laughed. "It is truly the case; doing some work is also good." Zhang Juzheng was slightly confused and then suddenly realized. This Hence Hai Rui was not a good person!

Letting Liu Kongyuan supervise was to make all the Investigating Censors uncomfortable. Liu Kongyuan would also continue to be scolded. As long as this rotating water carrying existed for one day, Liu Kongyuan would be the culprit. And Liu Kongyuan, having been scolded, would certainly make things difficult for those who scolded him! Being vengeful was the norm in officialdom. Because everyone was watching, Liu Kongyuan couldn't practice favoritism, and instead, he executed it even more fairly.

So, Hence Hai Rui was not a good person; he kept the matter in a clever balance, making everyone suffer together because of the trouble they had stirred up.

They believed that the battle for power between the young Emperor and the powerful minister, which they had been looking forward to for a long time, had begun!

Poor commoners and bitter laborers had proven more than once that after leaving the powerful and influential families and local gentry who rode roughshod over them, they could live very well. But the masters who rode roughshod over them had never once proven that they could live very well after leaving the poor commoners and bitter laborers.

Even drinking water seemed incomparably difficult.

"Teacher, how do you think this matter will end?" Zhu Yijun was curious about how his teacher viewed this matter.

Zhang Juzheng pondered for a while and said, "This Liu Kongyuan will likely have to pay out of his own pocket to hire two people to carry water. This is likely the best way."

"Teacher is right. I will issue an edict to Shuntian Prefecture: no water nest is allowed to deliver water to the Censorate; it must be taken by the Censorate Investigating Censors themselves!" Zhu Yijun slapped the table again and said, "Cannot let them drill this loophole, absolutely cannot!"

Zhang Juzheng also just laughed. The Emperor truly liked to watch the fun. It was conceivable how rare a thing it would be for the Censorate Censors to carry water on the street. The streets and alleys of the Great Ming capital would all be pointing and talking.

"Actually, there is another solution: let Liu Kongyuan go find that scolded water carrier and bow his head to apologize. This matter would end there." Zhu Yijun mentioned another possibility.

Zhang Juzheng shook his head and said, "He won't go. He would rather take off that official uniform than go."

"Teacher sees it clearly." Zhu Yijun thought about it; it seemed to be indeed the case. If Liu Kongyuan were willing to apologize, it would be as rare as the sun rising from the west.

"This winter, the 'Cherish Fuel Office' will not deliver coal to the Censorate, nor will it deliver stoves. Let them move them to the Cherish Fuel Office themselves. That is the decision." Zhu Yijun thought of another fun thing. Delivering coal in winter—the Cherish Fuel Office specifically delivered coal and firewood to various government offices. Once Zhu Yijun issued an edict to stop it, the Censors of the Censorate would have to do the work themselves.

If the Censors impeached Shen Yiguan and caused trouble for him, Shen Yiguan only needed three words to leave them speechless: "There is an edict."

With just these three words, the Censors could only suffer this anger.

Zhu Yijun was just telling this matter as a joke to Zhang Juzheng. Zhang Juzheng didn't intend to interfere after hearing it. The three words "There is an edict" were equally effective for Zhang Juzheng. The streets and alleys of the Great Ming were surely full of discussion; who knew what kind of things they would make up about this matter.

Zhu Yijun and Zhang Juzheng communicated deeply about several details regarding this "extermination of vassal states." It was extermination, not reduction—it was relocating the vassal kings enfeoffed in various places back to the capital and binding them in the Ten Kings City like the Fengyang High Wall.

Returning land was a massive trouble, a major matter several times more troublesome than land clearing. Zhang Juzheng didn't really want to do it from the beginning, but things had reached this point, and he had no need to oppose it.

Zhang Juzheng judged that no vassal king would rebel.

Mainly because the Emperor had no biological uncles—not a single one. The eight sons of the "Daoist Master" (Jiajing)—only the Prince of Yu's manor survived to the end. Since they were not biological uncles, the vassal kings raising the banner of "clearing the emperor's side" would have no power to speak of.

Hence Hai Rui returned to the court and denied that Xu Jie had the "merit of dragon-following," starting from the fact that only the late emperor remained of the Daoist Master's eight sons. What "merit of dragon-following" was there? The Daoist Master only had that one under his knees; if he didn't pass the throne to the Prince of Yu, who would he pass it to? The Prince of Jing had been married for many years and hadn't even given birth to a single boy.

The intensity of the political struggle in the mid-to-late Jiajing era could be seen.

The Prince of Yan and the Prince of Han were both biological uncles rebelling. This was because biological uncles were elders, and they were the first generation of Princes, having a foundation for rebellion in terms of financial resources and military force. Currently, the Emperor's situation was basically that they were all relatives beyond the five degrees of mourning. If they really wanted to find relatives, they would have to go back to Emperor Xianzong of Ming—it had already been over a hundred years. This status was not enough.

Another basis for Zhang Juzheng's judgment was: the vassal kings had no money to rebel.

Rebellion was not child's play. Just turning over would cost a massive amount of silver. Rebellion was a desperate gamble with the lives of nine clans on the line. This required heavy rewards to attract brave men. Moreover, the imperial court's strong army had just returned from the expedition to Bansheng, and the Capital Battalion was incomparably fierce. The Great Ming had also enfeoffed the first First-Class Duke since the Tianshun era. This reward money had to be even heavier to attract brave men.

During the Jiajing era, because of the dangerous military situation, the imperial court's finances were in great deficit. Time and again, the Daoist Master successively stopped the stipends for those below Commandery Prince, the construction of vassal manors, the silver for repairing vassal manors, and the silver for weddings, funerals, and marriages. The palace chambers of the Prince of Zheng's manor were seven or eight parts collapsed, and they were never seen being repaired. Even if the vassal kings wanted to rebel, they had the heart but not the strength.

And there were no people. The Great Ming's 170-year "pig-raising policy"—men of ambition would not follow the vassal kings to mix and wait for death for a lifetime. The "Chief Clerk" was a job sought by a scholar who couldn't pass the imperial examination. Most of the people around the vassal kings were wine bags and rice sacks. Without wise men following, the vassal kings couldn't even write the manifesto for rebellion themselves.

Without a righteous banner, without enough silver, without enough manpower, and even more so without strong men to offer advice, it was just a makeshift troupe.

Was it better to continue to the capital to mix and wait for death, or to continue to live in insecurity in the local area? Or to raise the banner of rebellion? This itself was not a difficult choice.

"Teacher, by not including the payment of imperial clan stipends in the Examination of Achievements, did you think of this day?" Zhu Yijun felt it was stranger the more he heard it. How did it look like it was intentional! It was deliberate reduction of vassal states, weakening the vassal kings' strength to the extreme, preparing for the extermination of vassal states and the removal of their kingdoms.

Relocating the vassal kings to the capital was the extermination of vassal states and the removal of their kingdoms. Although it sounded nice to call it "relocating vassal states," they were being moved back and their kingdoms were being removed—if this wasn't extermination, what was it?

This matter was too smooth and slippery; it looked like it had been plotted for a long time.

Zhang Juzheng pondered for a long time and sighed, "In the past, I didn't dare to think this far."

One Ten Kings City was an investment of 3 million silver, and relocating the vassal kings was a massive financial expenditure. And raising vassal kings in the capital and paying stipends was another massive expenditure. How could Zhang Juzheng dare to think of this? When the late emperor passed away, he had searched through all the silver in the capital's government offices, and together with the Inner Treasury, there was only 390,000 silver in total.

Being able to get silver was the top priority for the first ten years of Wanli.

Zhang Juzheng's analysis was very reasonable, because looking at the letters from many Princes in Henan, regarding the construction of the Ten Kings City, the tone of the Princes had turned from criticizing Zhang Juzheng to praising him, wishing they could elevate Zhang Juzheng to the point of "Teacher for all ages" and being enshrined in the Imperial Ancestral Temple!

Once they arrived in the capital, they could receive their stipends.

The English special envoy George finally bought 500,000 bolts of the Great Ming's cotton cloth. He had brought 1 million taels of silver this time. Originally, he wanted to buy some silk to imitate Philip II in reselling silk to make money. Hearing that Spain had bought a large batch of cotton cloth, he was immediately scared and changed his cargo list to cotton cloth.

As for the Portuguese special envoy Marcus, he bought quite a bit of silk. Regarding cotton cloth, Marcus was not afraid. Portugal had already reached the point of national ruin; there was no worry about its handicraft industry being impacted. If Philip II really used cotton cloth to deal with Portugal, King Antonio would have to thank Philip II for giving the Portuguese people a set of clothes to wear.

The Holy Roman special envoy just joined in the fun, and the Cardinal came for nothing.

The Falanxi special envoy, who had gone crazy, also failed to fulfill her wish to marry into the Great Ming imperial family. She didn't even have silver and couldn't buy cotton cloth.

"Your Majesty, that special envoy from the Goa Governor-General's office, Rui de, has committed suicide," Feng Bao whispered a few words to a minor eunuch before hurriedly reporting the result.

Rui de was a firm believer. Even when he was so hungry that his chest was sticking to his back, he still hadn't betrayed his faith. Zhu Yijun's deepest impression of Rui de was him roaring in the Wenhua Hall.

Suicide was an act of blasphemy in any doctrine; one would go to hell after death. And Rui de's suicide was because of despair.

The report from the Strait of Ma Liujia reached the capital, immediately causing a sensation, even overshadowing the fun of the Censorate Censors carrying water.

Ma Liujia City had fallen—a fortress that had been operated for sixty years. After the last internal strife in the Goa Governor-General's office, all the outer bastions were pulled out, leaving an isolated city hanging there. After the Great Ming's 30-jin cannons were in position, they blasted open the walls of the Ma Liujia fortress, shattering all morale.

The Great Ming had completely pierced through the Strait of Ma Liujia. The vast world of the West had once again opened its doors to the Great Ming.

And Rui de believed that it was because his actions were slow and he hadn't secured the last chance of survival for his comrades in the Goa Governor-General's office, so he died together with Ma Liujia City.

"Give him an official burial," Zhu Yijun said to Feng Bao upon hearing this news. "From beginning to end, Rui, ah, was just a somewhat stupid, firm believer. Fighting and running around for his country's interests—they are all warriors."

Rui was a red-haired barbarian, a Portuguese. Fighting and running around for his country's interests, and finally choosing to end his own life when he saw there was no room for maneuver—this was not wise, and even less worth advocating. But Zhu Yijun still respected a warrior falling with dignity.

"Knowing shame, knowing shame and honor, self-respect, self-love—only then can one be free." Zhu Yijun finally commented on Rui's life.

Rui's funeral was very simple. Except for the Great Ming people, no one came to see him off, because Antonio, as the King of Portugal, had already returned the governing rights of the Strait of Ma Liujia to the Great Ming. Marcus had no reason to come to see him off, and the resistance of the Goa Governor-General's office was not following the King's orders. Others were even more too lazy to pay attention.

A lonely grave mound had an inscription on it. The Great Ming didn't know much about Rui de, so they just carved the two times he served as an envoy on the tombstone.

"Take it to buy tea." Shah Mamet appeared before the Tonghe Palace gate. He tossed the silver bag in his hand high, and it landed in the hands of the Great Han General, after which he walked into the Tonghe Palace.

The Embroidered Uniform Guards and Great Han Generals could accept this silver bag; this was a special edict from the Emperor to respect the culture and elegance of the Shah's special envoy.

"I pay respects to Your Majesty. May Your Majesty live ten thousand years in peace." Shah Mamet performed a salute.

"Exempt from rites. Sit and speak." Zhu Yijun tried to imitate Shah Mamet's action of tossing the silver bag a few times, but it was always somewhat unnatural, lacking that silkiness—which might be related to Zhu Yijun's own stinginess.

Shah Mamet sat extremely upright and said seriously, "Your Majesty, the complete opening of the Strait of Ma Liujia is truly good news. Then the vast Mughal Empire will provide sufficient cotton for the Great Ming, as well as 'salty sand'—oh, no, now it should be called saltpeter."

He hadn't handled any serious business since coming to the Great Ming; he mainly listened to storytelling at the Qianmen Tower and occasionally was responsible for receiving the Persian beauties sent by Emperor Akbar, which could be considered maintaining the relationship with the Great Ming Emperor.

"The Shah's special envoy might need to return to the Mughal Empire to confirm the details of this trade. The Great Ming truly needs enough cotton for spinning," Zhu Yijun answered this question seriously.

The Shah asked curiously, "I wonder how much cotton the Great Ming needs in a year?"

Zhu Yijun said with great certainty, "As much as you have, I want it all. Songjiang Prefecture can weave 15 million bolts of cloth a year. The Great Ming can weave nearly 300 million bolts of cloth a year. It probably needs cotton for 300 million bolts of cloth, so as much as you have, I want it all."

"The Great Ming's appetite is truly too big. We simply cannot satisfy the Great Ming's appetite." Upon hearing this, Shah Mamet fainted directly!

A bolt of standard cloth required four catties of cotton, and a bolt of small cloth required three catties. Cotton for 300 million bolts of cloth, even if it were small cloth, would require 900 million catties of cotton. Even with the Great Ming's intensive cultivation, one mu of land produced no more than 100 to 150 catties of cotton, so it would require 9 million mu of land to cultivate, plus crop rotation, making it 18 million mu of land to cultivate cotton.

The Great Ming's cotton textile center was in Songjiang, while the planting center was in Shandong, because cotton's habit was long sunshine. During the cotton growth period, too much rain was unfavorable for cotton growth. Cotton's root system generally did not exceed three feet. If the soil was too wet, it would cause the cotton to be unable to take root. Songjiang Prefecture was a place that loved to rain very much.

Zhu Yijun was the true master of the "Precious Qi Office" (Baoqi Si); he was very knowledgeable about cotton's habits. Northern cotton went south, and Shandong's cotton was sent to Songjiang Prefecture for manufacturing.

"Your Majesty thinks too highly of our Mughal Empire..." Shah Mamet waved his hands repeatedly. "Your Majesty, we don't even know how many mu of land we have. We can only say we will try our best to provide it."

"The more the better." Zhu Yijun didn't demand how much cotton to collect in the early stages of trade; just as much as possible was fine.

Actually, Zhu Yijun had always been quite worried that the Great Ming's vibrant traditional cotton manufacturing industry made mechanized manufacturing more difficult—that is, the cost of machinery was much higher than human labor, causing various handicraft workshop owners to prefer using human labor rather than machinery.

With millions of farming households producing cotton for their own use or for nearby markets, merchants didn't need to rack their brains for large-scale manufacturing; buying directly from the farmers' own production was enough.

Shen Shixing answered the Emperor's doubts: the Great Ming's cotton cloth already had signs of large-scale centralized production. Only sufficient raw materials were needed to promote the further realization of mechanized manufacturing. What the Great Ming court should worry about was the weak production capacity of steam engines, which couldn't satisfy the Great Ming's appetite, and the adverse effects brought by large-scale production destroying the small-scale peasant economy of "men plowing and women weaving." Bankrupt farmers were a problem the Great Ming had to consider.

The entire Songjiang Prefecture possessed 57 large cotton textile handicraft workshops, employing over 10,000 weavers and weaving women. Adding the Great Ming court's official textile manufacturing, there were about over 250,000 practitioners.

Therefore, the Great Ming's urgent priority was the supply of raw materials.

"Can the Great Ming sell some cotton cloth to our Mughal Empire cheaply?" Shah Mamet asked in a low voice. "The price of a bolt of Great Cloth is as high as two taels of silver; it is truly too expensive."

"Of course. I wonder what price the Shah's special envoy thinks is appropriate?" Zhu Yijun's smile was very sunny, but he didn't look very happy—the kind of unhappiness of a black-hearted merchant being exposed to his face while still having to maintain a smile.

"How about one tael per bolt? Of course, Great Cloth, the 40-foot kind." Shah Mamet directly brought out the "Dragon-Slaying Treasure Knife," cutting the price in half.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Yijun immediately became sunny and bright, nodding and saying, "Of course, that's fine. The Great Ming and the Mughal Empire are old friends. At the price of one tael, everyone can guarantee sufficient profit."

Shah Mamet buying back cotton cloth was of course not for the commoners to use; it was mainly to act as a middleman, selling it to various Persian states.

For the wholesale price, Zhu Yijun naturally had to give some room for profit. Two taels was calculated based on Solon's great ships arriving at the port and having to follow the monsoon, with time being tight, so naturally, he had to have a full meal. But the profit at the price of one tael was also already extremely generous.

Shah Mamet just didn't want the trouble. If he bought from merchants willing to engage in illicit trade, the price could be even lower.

"That is truly great!" Shah Mamet said very happily. Anyway, with the situation in the Mughal Empire, letting the Shudras and untouchables cultivate cotton wouldn't cause any trouble. The Shudras and untouchables firmly believed that as long as they were reincarnated, they could become Brahmins.

Just like this, the Great Ming Emperor and the upper-level superstructure of the Mughal Empire reached a consensus to ruthlessly squeeze the Shudras and untouchables. If they planted cotton, they couldn't plant grain. As for things like starving to death, the Mughal Empire could handle it. This seemed inconceivable to the Great Ming, but on that magical land, it was reasonable.

Cooperating with the conquerors to squeeze the servants below was the survival mode that land had had for a long time. No matter who went to conquer, they could achieve the same effect.

In early July of the tenth year of Wanli, the Junior Minister of the Court of Diplomatic Reception, Gao Qiyu, sent away the special envoy who had entered the capital. That Falanxi special envoy still wanted to make a scene, so she was directly tied to a ship and sent back to the West. Not even buying cotton cloth—what kind of special envoy were you!

The Great Ming Emperor's imperial edicts rewarding the Marquis of Sishui, Yin Zhengmao, and the Marquis of Yingyang, Zhang Yuanxun, went along the sea route toward Manila. Zhu Yijun had originally planned to enfeoff them as Dukes, but Zhang Juzheng stopped him. The Great Ming had only pulled out all the Goa Governor-General's office's strongholds in the Strait of Ma Liujia, and the Goa Governor-General's office still existed with residual forces, so it was not appropriate to enfeoff them as Dukes. That would be unclear rewards and punishments, and then nothing could be accomplished.

Zhu Yijun didn't have a "sacred will already decided" this time, but believed that what Zhang Juzheng said was reasonable. However, the rewards were exceptionally generous. Zhu Yijun gave a batch of silver, letting Zhang Yuanxun build the Marquis of Yingyang's manor in the Jiugang Pacification Commission. As for the specifications, Zhu Yijun didn't determine them. Anyway, the Emperor was far away; as long as he didn't build it into an imperial palace, he could let Zhang Yuanxun toss about as he pleased.

A memorial from the Viceroy of Shaanxi, Shi Mao Hua, entered the court, causing much discussion. Shi Mao Hua submitted that the Shaanxi Regional Military Commission should be upgraded to a Pacification and Administration Commission, becoming a first-level administrative region of the Great Ming, and that the Shaanxi Regional Military Commission should be moved outside to the Seven Guards of Guanxi.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 494 =====