Chapter 498: The Wolf Has Truly Come, and It Is Coming Fiercely

Hence Hai Rui originally wanted to use Wang Chonggu as an example, but it had been ten years, and His Majesty had also said that the past was the past. After all, it had already been liquidated. Therefore, Hence Hai Rui used Wan Shihe as an example.

"It doesn't mean anything. My meaning is that the Minister of Rites is a virtuous person." Hence Hai Rui looked at Wan Shihe and said very confidently. He was not speaking ill of Wan Shihe, but praising him, although the way of praising was a bit strange.

Just like Wan Shihe, who was flexible and only knew how to flatter all day long, he had his own bottom line and persistence. This was the atmosphere of the current Great Ming court. In this clear and bright world where the government was clean and the people were harmonious, Hence Hai Rui really felt that it was no different from the "Three Generations" that the cheap Confucian scholars were clamoring about.

This clear atmosphere in the court was precious.

"Hmph!" Wan Shihe finally stopped arguing. He had actually been avoiding conflict with Hence Hai Rui all along. After all, he was not a gentleman, and Hence Hai Rui was indeed a gentleman. In a head-on collision, there was really no chance of winning.

Wan Shihe thought about it, and what Hence Hai Rui said was the truth. The most flexible person in the Great Ming was him, Wan Shihe.

Hence Hai Rui did not think there were bad people among the court officials, because since the "Examination Law," the change in the Great Ming's promotion mechanism meant that those who could walk into the Wenhua Hall and reach the position of court official were all tested and had no motive to protect sea bandits. A group of rotten people—protecting them would only bring divine punishment. When Hu Zongxian resisted the Japanese so hard, he tried to recruit the pirate Wang Zhi, intending to plant a nail behind the enemy's back, but in the end, he didn't succeed.

The Emperor was not doubting his ministers, but giving them a chance. At least the court officials should not make things so ugly. The credibility of the court also needed to be maintained by everyone together.

Zhang Juzheng spoke of the "Disaster of Party Prohibition" and once said: "The most regrettable and sad thing is that the most precious time is wasted in internal strife, with dangers lurking everywhere, everyone is ignorant and unaware, the court and the public ignore right and wrong, fighting for the sake of fighting, and bystanders cannot say a word. Orders are changed in the evening, and the law does not bind the people, the people do not follow the law, and state affairs are ruined. Alas!"

"I also hope so. You gentlemen sigh that you are good at planning for yourselves. Is there only one Qin Gui who ruined the country at that time? I hope you gentlemen will take this as a warning. Such behavior that will leave a bad name for ten thousand years must never be contaminated." Zhu Yijun said with great emotion.

This was a poem by Lu You, scolding Qin Gui. The words were extremely spicy. The officials in the court only cared about their own official positions and their own enjoyment, but completely ignored the country and the righteousness of the state, regardless of the lives of the people, only caring about planning for themselves, so that the situation had rotted to this point. Were there only one Qin Gui among the treacherous ministers who ruined the country in the court? Naturally, it was Zhao Gou.

Zhu Yijun warned the Great Ming officials that he did not want to be Zhao Gou, and the ministers should not be Qin Gui. For the sake of profit, they could tear each other apart, but betraying the interests of the Great Ming was betrayal.

"We ministers will respectfully follow His Majesty's holy teachings." Zhang Juzheng led the ministers to bow and salute.

This was an exhortation, a warning, and even more so, a threat.

"Minister of Rites, do not worry. I know your heart of loyalty to the monarch and love for the country." Zhu Yijun comforted Wan Shihe. For the Minister of Rites, Hence Hai Rui's attitude was never important; what was important was the Emperor's attitude.

Wan Shihe and Hence Hai Rui were two sides of the same coin. Hence Hai Rui was a direct minister who would remonstrate directly if the Emperor was wrong, while Wan Shihe was a sycophant who would say the Emperor was right even if he was wrong. Zhu Yijun had told the court officials more than once that the court needed a "jack-of-all-trades" like Wan Shihe. Wan Shihe, "everything is based on harmony," kept conflicts from escalating to the point of no return.

The Zhang faction and the Jin faction fought so fiercely that a slight carelessness would lead to the Disaster of Party Prohibition. Many things needed such people to organize in the middle.

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for understanding my way of self-preservation." Wan Shihe bowed again to thank him. How Hence Hai Rui looked at him was never important; His Majesty the Emperor's attitude was very important to him.

"The Southern Yamen has organized seven engineering regiments and needs six hundred steam engines." Zhang Juzheng looked at Li Le's memorial in his hand and said with great difficulty. Li Le was his subordinate. Logically, Zhang Juzheng, as his mentor, should find a way to satisfy Li Le's request.

But Li Le asked for too much. The Great Ming only had one thousand steam engines a year, and Li Le wanted six hundred.

When Wang Chonggu heard this, his face changed immediately, and he said loudly: "Impossible, don't even think about it. The Great Ming has so many official factories, Henan, Shandong, and the capital region all have engineering regiments. He says he wants six hundred, so give him six hundred? Why not move the steam engine factory to the Southern Yamen! Go queue up!"

Was that steam engines he wanted? That was productivity!

This year's steam engines had already been allocated. Li Le could go wherever he wanted to ask for them; the court didn't have any!

Let alone six hundred, adjusting one from anyone's hands was a huge trouble. It was a lion's mouth.

Wang Chonggu also had some grudges with Li Le. At the beginning, the big hole in the construction of the Xuan-Da Great Wall was exposed. Wang Chonggu intended to plug the hole, but Zhang Siwei corrupted Li Le. As a result, Li Le played a trick of "darkness and Chen Cang," forcefully deceiving the entire Jin faction. Li Le was in the light, and Wu Baipeng was in the dark, turning the Jin faction upside down.

"Give him three hundred." Zhang Juzheng still wanted to fight for his subordinate. After all, Li Le needed to quickly improve productivity to settle the poor people who had just been released from their contracts. The slave riots in the Southern Yamen were more dangerous than anywhere else.

Wang Chonggu immediately said: "No! I don't have one here."

"Does the Minister of Works have any?" Zhang Juzheng ignored Wang Chonggu and asked Wang Daokun.

Wang Daokun felt bitter. You, the Senior Grand Secretary and Junior Grand Secretary, are fighting, don't drag him, the last of the Six Ministries, into it. He was just the Minister of Works. You gods are fighting, and he, a mortal, is suffering. He looked left and right and said: "At most one hundred."

"Where did they come from?" Wang Chonggu frowned. He knew exactly where every one of the one thousand steam engines produced by the Great Ming this year was placed. The Xishan Coal Bureau needed more steam engines. Where did the Ministry of Works get one hundred?

Wang Daokun said: "Expanded production."

Wang Daokun was the leader of the Zhejiang faction. He was actually not very afraid of Wang Chonggu, but he was relatively afraid of Zhang Juzheng. In the end, he chose to compromise and gave Li Le one hundred, which was considered a compromise.

Wang Chonggu was furious. He looked at Wang Daokun and Zhang Juzheng and said with dissatisfaction: "We are all doing the court's business, but I just don't understand why I didn't know anything about such a big thing as expanding production? This is a 7.5-horsepower steam engine, one hundred of them, the effect of two thousand horses!"

"It's sixteen horsepower." Wang Daokun looked at Wang Chonggu and added. Under the guidance of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, the Great Ming Ministry of Works' Armory Steam Engine Factory had recently begun to build workshops for sixteen-horsepower steam engines and would also upgrade the original workshops.

The Ministry of Works hoped to achieve an annual production of two thousand sixteen-horsepower steam engines by next spring.

Steam engines could operate continuously except for maintenance, while livestock could not. Livestock needed rest, so it was generally believed that the effect of one one-horsepower steam engine was equal to three pack horses.

Two thousand sixteen-horsepower engines—one Armory steam engine factory produced the equivalent of one hundred thousand pack horses in a year.

This was the expected production for the 11th year of Wanli. What about the 21st year of Wanli? How many pack horses could the Great Ming produce in a year?

Based on the iteration speed of steam engines and the construction speed of Great Ming workshops, it wouldn't take many years for two thousand to become twenty thousand, and sixteen horsepower would also increase rapidly. Production theory, freedom theory, official factory group construction, and engineering regiments were all based on the theory of rapid productivity improvement. Now that this theory had shown a little bit of its edge, it was already brilliant.

"Hmph! Give it to him, give it to him!" Wang Chonggu waved his hand impatiently. He still had to give Zhang Juzheng face, mainly because Zhang Juzheng would have to return this favor in the allocation of steam engines next year.

Zhang Juzheng settled the complaining Wang Chonggu and bowed his head: "What does Your Majesty think?"

"The situation in the Southern Yamen is extremely complex, and Li Le has done his best. Just give it to him." Zhu Yijun approved Zhang Juzheng's suggestion.

The court conquered Suiyuan, Pan Jixun took the initiative to leave Yingtian Prefecture and went to Shengzhou to eat yellow soil. Li Le's foundation was insufficient, and his deterrence was not enough. When Pan Jixun was in the Jiangxi locust plague in the third year of Wanli, he shouted "If there is no food, I will cut off my head," and if there was no food to relieve the people, they would all die together. He was extremely murderous. When Pan Jixun was there, the powerful and wealthy families in the Southern Yamen dared not act recklessly. Pan Jixun left, so wouldn't the powerful and wealthy families give Li Le trouble?

This large-scale "absolute liberal faction" in Jiangnan was trouble. As a result, before the court took action, the chaos of "Cao Ge Suo Qi" broke out.

If the court didn't give support, Li Le, the Governor of Yingtian, might as well quit.

"There is movement in the Southwest." Zhang Juzheng said with a solemn face: "The King of Toungoo, Mang Yingli, has no heart of submission. Far away in Diewula (Toungoo City), he has repeatedly clamored to attack the Great Ming. The Longchuan Tusi Yue Feng and his son Yue Nangwu, the Gengma Tusi Han Qian brothers, the Nandian Tusi Dao Luocan, the Mangshi Tusi Fang Zhengtang, as well as Mang Yingli's uncle Meng Bie, younger brother Awa, and others, each led elephant troops to threaten Leilong, Zhanda, Gan'ya, Sidian, and other places."

The Great Ming was the Heavenly Dynasty. Toungoo was a barbarian in the Southwest. During the Yongle and Xuande years, Toungoo was still the Diewula Regional Military Commission of the Great Ming. Previously, the Governor of Yunnan had repeatedly indicated in memorials that there were changes in the Southwest, but the court didn't take it seriously. Plus, the Governor of Yunnan kept saying it, just like the story of "the wolf is coming," so everyone didn't take it seriously.

But now, the wolf had truly come, and it was coming fiercely.

"No, even his father didn't dare to test the edge easily. How dare Mang Yingli?" Wan Shihe said with a very complex expression: "This is attacking the Great Ming! The Great Ming, the Heavenly Dynasty! Does he not know what he is doing?"

Zhang Juzheng was also somewhat confused: "I thought about it for a long time, but I didn't figure it out."

Just say Mang Yinglong died, and Mang Yingli succeeded to the throne. His position was unstable. Shouldn't he find a soft persimmon to pinch? Even if he went to find the Goa Governor-General's Office! It would be better than going head-to-head with the Great Ming!

The Great Ming had just defeated the Goa Governor-General's Office. Zhang Yuanxun's prestige shook the Nanyang, and even the special envoy of the Goa Governor-General's Office was so desperate that he ended his own life.

How confused must Mang Yingli be to use the Great Ming to establish his prestige?

Normal people, upon hearing about the Great Ming's great victory in the Strait of Malacca, should know to be afraid. Mang Yingli's foundation was unstable, so he should pay tribute to the Great Ming to seek the Great Ming's investiture to maintain the stability of his throne. This was the basic practice of many vassal states of the Great Ming.

The throne was like sitting on pins and needles, so he should pay tribute to the Great Ming. An imperial edict of investiture was better than thousands of troops and horses. Even if the ambitious person had greater ambitions, he had to consider the Great Ming's reaction. Even if he built a statue of a god, he had to set it up well and offer incense every day.

But Mang Yingli was not like this. He had to try whether the Great Ming's blade was truly sharp.

"It's a pity for the foundation that Mang Yinglong built after fighting all his life." Wang Chonggu inexplicably thought of his rebellious son Wang Qian, but no matter how rebellious Wang Qian was, he had never done such a thing of rebelling against heaven. When Wang Chonggu beat him, Wang Qian didn't dare to fight back and could only run away.

"The Southwest authorities have already begun to advance troops. They should have already started fighting by now." Zhang Juzheng spoke of the actions of the Duke of Qian, Mu Changzuo, and the Governor of Yunnan, Liu Shiceng. Instead of waiting for the enemy to attack, it was better to hit them directly. The court was too far away from Yunnan. Previously, Liu Shiceng had already obtained the imperial edict to admonish Mang Yingli.

Zhu Yijun looked at the court officials and shook his head: "Mang Yingli lightly started a border conflict. The Great Ming must counterattack. He can decide the beginning of the war, but how the war will end is not something Mang Yingli can decide. I hope he won't regret his move to provoke the Great Ming today."

"The Ministry of War should order the Governor-General of Jiugang, Zhang Yuanxun, to wait for an opportunity to act and act according to circumstances."

The Governor-General's Office had guest soldiers and tooth soldiers. They were all guest soldiers recruited by the Governor-General's Office. Then, with the guest soldiers as the core, they recruited sailors, desperate people, and sea bandits who went to sea as tooth soldiers. This was a typical feudal system. The Great Ming navy was mainly deployed in the five major inland Shipping Commissions, so the only one who could attack was Zhang Yuanxun.

Guest soldiers and tooth soldiers were not afraid of fighting. They were afraid of having no battles to fight. If there were no battles, there would be no spoils, no reward silver, and they might even be disbanded.

As for when Zhang Yuanxun would cooperate with the Duke of Qian's mansion to give Toungoo a fatal blow, the Great Ming court was too far away and knew too little about the situation, so it was better to leave it to the front line.

"Mang Yingli will definitely regret it." Zeng Shengwu received the holy will and said very affirmatively: "It's good that the Great Ming doesn't look for trouble with him. The Duke of Qian is anxiously waiting to prove the necessity of guarding the Southwest."

There were far fewer Tusi in Yunnan than in Sichuan, Guizhou, and Guangxi. Yunnan was under the military garrison of the Duke of Qian's mansion. But the Great Ming had been opened for two hundred years, and the role of the Duke of Qian's mansion had been gradually ignored. Instead, the Governor often reported to impeach the Duke of Qian's mansion for annexing too many people. The Duke of Qian's mansion also needed a great battle to prove its role.

Mang Yingli had delivered himself to their door.

Since the Great Ming completely withdrew from Jiaozhi and the Annam Kingdom was restored, the small countries in the Southwest all felt that the Great Ming was a soft persimmon, and everyone wanted to pinch it to try.

The Minister of Works, Wang Guoguang, said: "From the census of the population in Shandong, the Southern Yamen, and other places, over 80% of the Great Ming people are in extreme poverty, as poor people. They have less than ten mu of land, no way to make a living, and no land to farm. Even in the Songjiang Prefecture, where merchants gather and goods are poured in, the poor people carry things on their shoulders and backs, and the few coins they earn a day are only enough for food and clothing, with no surplus."

"Once they encounter wind, frost, rain, or snow, the whole family has nothing to eat, fearing that they will eat everything up. They live in cold alleys and only drink water, hoping for clear weather."

Wang Guoguang's topic was too heavy, so after he finished speaking, the Great Ming court officials were silent for a long time. In the Great Ming, over 80% of the people were poor. This was still in Shandong and the Southern Yamen, which were considered wealthy places. What about those barren places?

The situation would only be more rotten.

There was a detail in Wang Guoguang's words: when the weather changed and they couldn't work, the families didn't eat, only drank water and prayed for clear weather. When the weather cleared up, they would give the laborers food, go out to earn money. The investigation by Shen Shixing and Wang Yie was clearly not groundless.

The Great Ming people were still very bitter.

"Also." Wang Guoguang knew the heaviness of this topic, and he hesitated.

The Great Ming's new policy had been implemented for ten years, and the Great Ming court's finances had gradually become abundant. The Great Ming army had also won victory after victory, expanding its territory by thousands of miles, restoring the entire territory of the Beiping Regional Military Commission and the Hetao, expanding to Jilin in Liaodong, and opening up four major Governor-General's Offices overseas.

Did the new policy have any effect? Yes, it was obvious.

Wang Guoguang's words, on the contrary, pierced through this superficial prosperity. The situation in the Great Ming was still shocking and unbearable to look at. Of the population counted in the census, 80% lived in poverty. This was something the court had never expected. Even up to this point, Wang Guoguang still had words to say.

"Also, in the countryside, over 98% are poor people, while the cities are slightly better." Wang Guoguang had already pierced through the brocade, and there was nothing to be afraid of. He then pierced through the lie. The illusion of self-sufficiency in the countryside—some people described the countryside under the small-scale peasant economy as a peaceful paradise, but in fact, it was not peaceful at all, but very poor.

The phenomenon of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer was more common in the countryside. The local gentry and powerful families in the countryside turned everyone into poor people, becoming de facto local emperors.

Zhu Yijun looked at the court officials who were silent and said: "Returning the land, it still must be done. It cannot be done without doing it."

The Great Ming actually had a way to solve it. History had long given the answer. Every cycle of the dynasty was a redistribution of the labor of production.

Zhang Juzheng took out the "Land Return Memorial," but he did not quite agree with it. Wang Chonggu opposed it, but he still implemented a part of it. By means of ship permits, he collected a batch of land. The court officials also generally opposed it. And what Wang Guoguang said, in the end, there was only one way to alleviate this contradiction: change the relations of production and redistribute the means of production.

Wang Chonggu looked at the court officials who did not respond, and scolded Zhang Juzheng for being too cunning again. He was doing the work, and His Majesty mentioned it, so only he could answer. Wang Chonggu bit the bullet and said: "Your Majesty, the world is exhausted, but it is still appropriate to build ten king cities, move the feudal lords to the capital, use the engineering regiments as the backbone, use official factory group construction as the flesh and blood, and use points to scatter the surface. If the movement is too big, it may cause the world to boil."

"The ones who suffer are still the people. Your Majesty's original intention is to relieve the suffering of the people. If the war spreads, I am afraid the land return law will not have any effect."

"Hmm." Zhu Yijun nodded, agreeing with Wang Chonggu's statement.

Governing a big country, the more anxious you are, the worse it gets. Without a long-term plan, how can you call yourself the Heavenly Dynasty? Returning land naturally needs to be done, but it also needs to be done bit by bit. If the steps are too big, you will definitely tear your pants.

The court discussion was always boring. Since the Great Ming Prince Lu married, he had closed his doors to live his own life. Zhu Yijun was still the donkey in the mill. Every decision of the court had to be personally stamped by Zhu Yijun. Whatever he did, he had to think three times before acting and treat it with caution.

The Ministry of Revenue reported the progress of the census in various places in the Great Ming. After the chaos of "Cao Ge Suo Qi," the speed of the census was accelerating; the Ministry of Justice reported three difficult cases, which were typical examples that would affect the compilation of the Great Ming Code; the Ministry of Rites submitted a new volume of the "Overseas Barbarian Countries Records," and Gao Qiyu wrote his experiences in the West into "Records of Shadows of the West," recording the strange and bizarre things in the West;

The Ministry of War and the Ministry of Works jointly submitted the construction progress of the Suiyuan Imperial Road. Everything was proceeding according to plan, and in many places, the progress exceeded expectations. With the project funds in place, the speed of the project naturally kept up. The ten king cities had been cleared and leveled, the foundations had been dug, the official factories had been coordinated, and bricks, stones, earth, and wood began to be transported.

The Ministry of Personnel and the Censorate submitted a list. Seventeen more steles had been added to the "Happy Stele Forest" outside the Zhaoyang Gate. This time, the censors of the Censorate who were involved in the incident were pointed out. Last time, the "Demon Book" full of stories about the concubines of the capital censors finally pointed out the seventeen corrupt officials. Their deeds would remain on the steles.

The "Happy Stele Forest" had now become a tourist attraction. Students entering the capital all had to go and observe it, because the imperial examination might test it, so it was considered collecting material.

The censors of the Censorate begged bitterly, asking His Majesty not to let them carry water anymore. The face of the scholar-officials had been lost, and they were pointed at by others. Zhu Yijun remained unmoved, only saying that if they didn't want to do it, they could resign and go home. Once the official hat was taken off and the official seal was put down, they could leave.

Torturing the censors of the Censorate was not Zhu Yijun's bad taste, but to let them get in touch with the ground, not to talk about "mind and nature" with their sleeves folded all day long, and do some proper work. As an important correction force of the Great Ming, if it went on like this, what kind of system would it be?

"Yesterday, the Governor of Songjiang, Shen Shixing, reported that the main body of the 'Dragon Roaming' has been completed, and it is scheduled to go to sea on August 15th, followed by two months of sea trials. Around October 15th, it will go to Tianjin Guard with the Great Ming navy to accept His Majesty's review." The Minister of Works, Wang Daokun, reported an exciting piece of news. The Great Ming's fast sailing ship could already be launched!

It was just the warship "Flying Cloud." It was still early for it to be launched, and it might even be postponed, as it had encountered engineering difficulties that needed to be overcome.

"Good!" Zhu Yijun said with a smile: "Don't be in a hurry, don't be in a hurry. Slow work produces fine products. Being eager for quick success and instant benefits is not advisable. The construction period has already been advanced by one year. I can wait until next summer. I only hope that the fast sailing ship can become a powerful help for the Great Ming's maritime trade."

Faster and more goods shuttling between the oceans, the faster the Great Ming's small-scale peasant economy would transform into a commodity economy, and the status of extreme poverty of 98% in the countryside could be changed.

The sixteen-horsepower steam engine could actually tell a story, and the fast sailing ship could also tell a story. Zhu Yijun really intended to harvest in the trade fair, and these were two stories. Even if the powerful and wealthy families could survive these two huge sickles? I am afraid it would be very difficult.

But Zhu Yijun didn't tell it. The reason he didn't tell it was not because he was kind-hearted, but because he didn't want the trade fair to slide into the abyss of human evil.

Wang Chonggu reported on the construction of the three-level schools of the engineering regiments, which had already been spread out in each engineering regiment. But education was always "ten years to grow trees, a hundred years to grow people." In the short term, there were not many results to be seen. The only problem solved now was that many scholars in the Great Ming finally didn't have to make a living by copying books. At least teaching reading and writing could also make a living.

After the news of the small-scale mass production of sixteen-horsepower steam engines was announced, the price of the Suiyuan Imperial Road tickets rose a lot. Wang Qian had been optimistic about the imperial road from the beginning and invested all his silver into the imperial road. Now selling, Wang Qian would make a profit of over 20%, but Wang Qian still held it instead of selling.

After the court discussion, Zhu Yijun finished reading the newly revised "Overseas Barbarian Countries Records." This volume was about England, and the description of England in it was a sharp turn for the worse.

Originally, the Ministry of Rites did not have a low evaluation of the English, because they completed the global voyage last year. This behavior was worthy of affirmation. This was courage and exploration. But with the privateering license policy issued by the Queen of England, the Ministry of Rites' evaluation of the English took a sharp turn for the worse, already at the same level as Japan, and criticized the English for their cruel oppression of the Scots.

The Ministry of Rites had previously suspected that the Spanish special envoy was deliberately speaking ill of the English, until the English special envoy, George, proudly affirmed that the privateering license was a genius invention, and the Ministry of Rites finally revised this volume of the "Overseas Barbarian Countries Records."

Those who encourage sea bandits are the scum of humanity.

The Great Ming was a traditional land power, and because of the Japanese pirates' chaos in the Southeast, they were extremely disgusted with sea bandits. The English encouraged sea bandits, so they were drifting further and further away from the Great Ming.

"Has no censor come to petition at the palace gate yet?" Zhu Yijun put away the "Overseas Barbarian Countries Records" and asked curiously.

Going to the street to carry water was already so humiliating. The censors of the Jiajing reign who would petition at the palace gate at every turn had been making trouble for so long, and no one had come to petition at the palace gate yet.

Feng Bao said with a smile: "Your Majesty is waiting here, they dare not come."

The Jiajing reign dared to make such trouble because the Daoist master had no knife in his hand, especially after the death of the Embroidered Uniform Guard Lu Bing, the Daoist master was even more helpless against those censors who petitioned at the palace gate. Now they didn't dare to make such trouble because they knew that if they made trouble, something big would happen. His Majesty was thinking about it.

Zhu Yijun flicked his sleeves and shook his head: "Boring."

"Going to the street to carry water is better than going to Suiyuan to eat sand." Feng Bao had a very good understanding of the mentality of the cheap Confucian scholars.

It was still not worth it. At that time, petitioning at the palace gate, the bigger the trouble, the better, the bigger the reputation, the faster the promotion. As long as they could get a court beating, they would be promoted to the blue clouds. Now the Examination Law had been implemented for ten years, and His Majesty's court beating would really kill people.

Zhu Yijun went to the North Camp to inspect the military horses and pulled Prince Lu, who was immersed in the gentle village, to the North Camp. If he continued to indulge like this, it was hard to guarantee that the young Prince Lu would not be physically exhausted. Zhu Yijun cooperated very well, sweating profusely, and had a good sweat.

"Let's go and see some excitement with me." After Zhu Yijun washed up, he prepared to take Zhu Yijun to see some excitement.

"What excitement?" Zhu Yijun asked curiously.

Zhu Yijun tidied up his clothes and said: "Lin Fucheng and a man named Gu Gongxie have been arguing fiercely in the miscellaneous newspaper recently. The two agreed to meet at Taibai Tower today for a gathering."

"I won't go. What's so good about watching scholars argue? It's not as good as watching people wrestle on the drill ground." Zhu Yijun shook his head like a rattle, not knowing why His Majesty liked to watch scholars argue.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 499 =====

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