Chapter 599: Let the Base Confucians Walk the Path They Choose, and Leave Them With No Path at All

Zhang Zhang Juzheng's core belief was Legalism; he likely read Legalist classics like Han Han Feizi and Book of Shang frequently, and he warned His Majesty that some people were waiting for the Emperor to overreact, waiting for him to amplify matters under emotions like anger, anxiety, or panic.

Once the door to amplification opened, no human force could stop it—not Zhang Zhang Juzheng, not Wang Wang Chonggu, not even His Majesty himself. As Grand Secretary and Imperial Tutor, Zhang Zhang Juzheng knew well that the Emperor was a man, not an omniscient, omnipotent deity.

Zhang Zhang Juzheng believed the Jingkang Humiliation occurred primarily due to the incompetence of the ruling class; the ancestral policy of valuing civil over military affairs, military decay, poor preparedness, strategic blunders like allying with Jin to destroy Liao, fiscal shortages—all these combined were less decisive than the ruling class's incompetence alone.

The conflict between innovation and ancestral law ran through the entire three centuries of the Song dynasties; yet as Emperor and ultimate decision-maker, he never sought ways to curb the escalating factional strife, instead deliberately provoking and intensifying it, playing factions against each other, fearing the court ministers didn't fight fiercely enough—so much so that Tan Sima Guang later cataloged it in the Comprehensive Mirror as "imperial art."

Such imperial art—sending men to the enemy camp to lead away sheep—is better left unlearned.

Factional strife had grown so severe that the royal relief army disbanded amid bickering, Taiyuan fell amid debates over whether to reinforce it, peace and war factions tore at each other to shift blame, and the retired Emperor Emperor Huizong and Emperor Emperor Qinzong Zhao Huo Huan fought bitterly over the throne—yet even as Wanyan Wanyan Zonghan and Wanyan Wanyan Zongwang's Jin troops breached Taiyuan's siege and advanced on Kaifeng, the court remained mired in factional infighting.

Zhang Zhang Juzheng warned His Majesty that those waiting for amplification knew that once it began, those with escape routes would turn desperate, those who supported new policies would grow doubtful, and those with no escape would become the most hardened diehards, ultimately triggering catastrophe: at best, new policies would be half-heartedly implemented and fail; at worst, factional purges would fill the court, turning politics into endless fighting for its own sake.

"On the day factional purges erupt, you may declare the new policies a failure." Zhang Zhang Juzheng ended his counsel for the day.

"Your Excellency's wisdom is immense; I humbly accept your teaching." Zhu Zhu Yijun rose to return the bow—this too was part of the lecture session.

"Your Excellency, I have here a curious miscellany." Zhu Zhu Yijun picked up a pamphlet and handed it to Zhang Zhang Juzheng with a smile. "Take a look."

Zhang Zhang Juzheng opened the pamphlet, frowned at first, then burst into laughter.

The pamphlet was called Laughing Forest Collection, entirely composed of jokes.

Joke collections had deep roots in the Central Plains, already a common literary form since the Three Kingdoms era—such as Han Dan's Laughing Forest, the Sui Dynasty's Record of Amusing Faces, the Song Dynasty's Satirical Compilation, Expanded Record of Matters, and Palm-Clapping Records.

The Great Ming also had many joke collections: Elegant Mockery, Praise of Laughter, Laughing Treasury, Expanded Laughing Treasury, Ancient and Modern Jokes, and so on.

The pamphlet Zhang Zhang Juzheng held used the common Ming format of question-and-answer, similar to the dialogues in the Analects or Wang Yangming's Mind School; Li Zhi also favored this style.

"This one is worth reading," Zhang Zhang Juzheng concluded after finishing it; it held historical value as a type of prophecy or rumor.

For instance, this issue was titled "On Why the Tan Sima Jin Dynasty Revered Zhuge Kongming."

The veneration of Zhuge Liang began with his mortal enemy, the Jin dynasty, and with extraordinary intensity.

Zhuge Liang drove Tan Sima Yi, the Tan Sima clan's founding ancestor, to the point of wearing women's clothing; even after Tan Sima Yi fulfilled his "old steed in the stall," he still deeply revered Zhuge Liang; by the time of Tan Sima Zhao and Tan Sima Yan, Zhuge Liang was deified—the Tan Sima clan relentlessly elevated him.

Even a brain-dead man could choose correctly.

Emperor Tan Sima Yan, as ruler, would not choose the loyal, tireless Zhuge Liang—would he choose Tan Sima Yi or Tan Sima Zhao instead? Would he encourage ministers to usurp the throne? Place these three men side by side—even the dim-witted Emperor Hui of Jin, Tan Sima Zhong, couldn't pick wrong.

Tan Sima Zhong was born mentally deficient.

A asked: "With such a vast Jin state, could they not find even one?"

B replied: "Those relied upon as confidants were all traitors—like Liu Fang, Cao Rui's trusted minister, who secretly colluded with Tan Sima Yi; when Tan Sima Yi succeeded, Liu Fang became a founding minister."

If all founding ministers were traitors, that was the Tan Sima clan's foremost dilemma.

In this Laughing Forest issue, 87 early Western Jin ministers were meticulously selected; each had a joke attached. Glance at them—all were traitors, in-laws, or corrupt officials—utterly unreadable.

The early Western Jin ministers weren't even comparable to Zhuge Liang; they weren't even human-like beings—they were a moral wasteland.

"This miscellany was organized by Grand Secretary Wan," Zhu Zhu Yijun didn't hide it; he told Zhang Zhang Juzheng outright it was produced by the Ministry of Rites, a semi-official gazette.

"To compile the Collected Works of the Philosophers?" Zhang Zhang Juzheng instantly understood Wan Shihé's intent.

Since Zhu Cheng's Neo-Confucianism rose to dominance, neglecting history became widespread—after all, the Sage Zhu declared that after the Spring and Autumn period, there was no great righteousness, only record-keeping; the trend of ignoring history grew rampant, and Wan Shihé's joke collection aimed to shatter Confucianism's invincible facade.

Using morality to restrain the meat-eaters has never succeeded in history—that is direct proof Confucianism is a fraud.

"Grand Secretary Wan truly lives up to his title as leader of the Imperial Faction," Zhang Zhang Juzheng praised Wan Shihé; on the battlefield of rites and law, Wan was unstoppable.

Zhang Zhang Juzheng had originally recommended Wan Shihé to compile the Collected Works of the Philosophers; now, this key appointment proved reliable and correct.

The Great Ming court had now lowered its lofty posture, repeatedly employing methods akin to "heretical books" to control public opinion—with remarkable success, achieving precisely this: let the base Confucians walk the path they chose, and leave them with no path at all.

Zhang Zhang Juzheng completed his counsel: the Qu family, their ledgers, and 140 officials of the Southern Ya were the entire group of culprits in the Songjiang shipyard arson and Qu family bribery case; Zhu Zhu Yijun issued a special edict explaining the case to all levels of bureaucracy, then encouraged the remaining Southern Ya officials to perform their duties diligently, without fear.

The ringleader was executed; the rest were exiled to frontier regions, mostly to Java.

As Emperor, Zhu Zhu Yijun sat in the Northern Ya and had no idea what impact his edict of reassurance would have; the most direct effect was that Li Le and Shen Shen Shixing, the two Provincial Governors, immediately became the majority faction in the Southern Ya, and policies like land surveying, population census, abolition of low-status slave status, and the Single Whip Tax were further enforced.

One offense, no double punishment—His Majesty's credibility had gained widespread recognition; if he issued a decree of comfort, it meant that as long as no further offenses occurred, past misdeeds would not be revisited.

Must we wait for heavenly troops to descend before we stop? His Majesty doesn't leave people without a way out!

Unnoticed by anyone, Yao Xu Guangqi quietly consolidated the Shanghai County Southern Yamen, then leveraged his connections to rapidly advance the Iron Horse Factory's establishment—from factory construction and supply chains to production equipment like boring machines and hydraulic components, and most crucially, skilled artisans.

Wang Wang Chonggu, under the pretext of supporting the Songjiang Iron Horse Factory, dispatched 170 skilled artisans, including two master craftsmen, and over seventy chief, deputy, and assistant overseers, arriving in Shanghai County to accelerate the factory's establishment—not fumbling in the dark, but advancing boldly under the guidance of seasoned artisans.

This was the advantage of being a "heavenly person"; Yan Yan Shixuan, also of the Jin Faction, had some ties to Wang Wang Jiaoping, yet Wang Wang Jiaoping and Wang Wang Chonggu were at odds—how much effort would Yan Yan Shixuan have needed merely to recruit these people?

On the third day of the fourth month, at the new port of Songjiang Prefecture, 120 ships were departing under the tow of barges, having completed sea surveys; the Youlong, ten five-masted ocean-going ships, over eighty three-masted junks, and several two-masted vessels, all laden with cargo, sailed for the Nagasaki Viceroyalty to exchange goods for silver.

The Youlong and five-masted ocean-going ships carried 1,500 elite naval troops, bound for Osaka Bay, the seat of the Nagasaki Regional Military Command, to assume garrison duty on a three-year rotation.

Of the 3,000 authorized personnel of the Nagasaki Regional Military Command, half came from the Nagasaki Viceroyalty's guard troops, the other half from the Songjiang Garrison Navy; interestingly, of the 1,500 auxiliary troops originally sent from Shandong by Ling Ling Yunyi, 800 were selected for the Osaka Bay Garrison Battalion.

"Second Master, the First Master is dying—come home with me," said Sun Sun Hongming, the old steward of the Songjiang Sun family, urgently to Sun Sun Kehong.

Sun Sun Kehong had been in Japan for nearly nine years and had never returned; now, Sun Sun Kehong was gravely ill, nearing death, and wished to see Sun Sun Kehong one last time.

"Can there be any more variations?" Sun Sun Kehong sighed. "This is the twelfth different excuse to make me return. I won't go. My nephews are doing well—they can inherit the family business. I prefer the Yuanxu Islands."

When Sun Sun Kehong left, he made it clear: everything at home belonged to his elder brother; everything he built abroad was his own—he had already divided the family. What would returning now mean? Fighting his brother for inheritance, making His Majesty laugh?

The Songjiang Sun family was as wealthy as a kingdom—truly rich. Sun Sun Kehong abandoned this wealth to pursue something greater: he sought a title of territorial nobility.

If he could secure a Marquis of Expansion, his family would finally transcend the powerful elite class and enter the hereditary official class—even if this hereditary title was overseas and granted no extraterritorial rights in the interior.

What did it matter if it wasn't an interior title? With time, the Yuanxu Islands would become the Great Ming's interior; no law forbade expanding the heartland—going from Lu Song to the Yuanxu Islands would take no more than a few years.

"This time it's real—the First Master may truly be dying," Sun Sun Hongming even shed a few tears.

The more he wept, the less Sun Sun Kehong believed him; originally, Sun Sun Kehong was the head of the Sun family, and Sun Sun Hongming was his loyal retainer. Had Xu Xu Jie not broken Sun Sun Kehong's leg, Sun Sun Kehong would never have taken over. Now, he had been away from Songjiang for over eight years—Sun Sun Hongming's descendants were his elder brother's men.

Internally and externally, the Songjiang Sun family did not want this rebellious Second Master to return.

The more he cried, the more false it seemed; in large families, inheritance was always about interests over kinship. Clearly, Sun Sun Hongming's tears were ordered by Sun Sun Kehong himself.

"Old Sir, I have a letter from the chief physician beside my brother—he's in perfect health! Can't you come up with a better lie?" Sun Sun Kehong produced evidence: no serious illness, merely Sun Sun Kehong's obsessive delusion.

Sun Sun Kehong stubbornly believed that had Sun Sun Kehong not stepped in after his leg was broken, the Sun family would have collapsed—so he insisted on leaving all property to Sun Sun Kehong, hence his persistent demand for his return.

"Then we must take you by force." Sun Sun Hongming dropped the act; several retainers immediately surrounded him.

"Step back! All of you, step back!" Sun Sun Kehong raised a matchlock, his back guarded by over a dozen bodyguards; he smiled. "Old Sir, this is the Nagasaki Viceroyalty—my territory! You're a river dragon, but you've crossed the sea—do you still think you can drag me back by force?"

"I am a court official—the Maritime Trade Commissioner of the Nagasaki Viceroyalty! If you attempt to kidnap a court officer, I will kill you—and even if I bring this before His Majesty, I will be in the right! Step back!"

Only after Sun Sun Hongming sat down did Sun Sun Kehong lower his matchlock. "Old Sir, I'm not refusing to return—I can't return. The Sun family must split. If the Songjiang Sun family doesn't divide, His Majesty will dismantle it. We're already a family as wealthy as a kingdom; add overseas nobility, and the court will surely ask: what do the Suns intend?"

"His Majesty has the capacity to tolerate, but we must show wisdom. If I return to Songjiang to inherit the estate, in a few years, our Sun family will become the next Qu family. Division benefits everyone. My brother is being childish here—ask the family elders to persuade him."

"The Qu patriarch has opened twenty thousand hectares in the Yuanxu Islands. Even if the Qu family falls, they won't swallow it all—but they'll still claim over ten thousand hectares."

Sun Sun Kehong made it perfectly clear: only division would prevent the court from fearing them; without division, the Sun family would be the next Qu family—fat, then slaughtered. Wasn't that inevitable? Only by crossing this class barrier could they gain some security.

"Sigh. I've said everything I could. The First Master still wants the Second Master to return." Sun Sun Hongming looked at the matchlock and sighed; he'd pleaded countless times. Since his leg was broken, Sun Sun Kehong had become obsessively stubborn—he listened to no one, except perhaps Sun Sun Kehong.

"Old Sir, stroll around Nagasaki. I have matters to attend to." Sun Sun Kehong truly had business—Viceroy Xu Wei had summoned him.

Commander Li Li Chengliang, Maritime Trade Commissioner eunuch Wang Chao, and Inspector Luo Ying had already arrived; Sun Sun Kehong was the last to come—he must meet his family first.

Xu Wei held up a courier report: "A stubborn figure has emerged among Kyoto's court nobles: Kanda Shinichi, Minister of the Ministry of Popular Affairs. He advocates printing his own currency—counterfeit coins—to resist the Great Ming's overseas circulating treasure notes, stirring up considerable unrest—even Oda Nobunaga attended his gatherings."

"Kanda Shinichi says that as long as he lives, he will not allow Great Ming treasure notes to circulate in Japan."

"My view: remove him from office. Replace him as Minister of Popular Affairs—then no one breaks their promise."

After Xu Wei spoke, everyone glanced at each other, expressions varying.

Inspector Luo Ying whispered: "Will Oda Nobunaga agree? Kanda Shinichi is the minister Oda painstakingly recruited—he's talented, and as head of the Finance Office, he's overseen coinage for over a decade. Oda won't easily agree."

Xu Wei shrugged. "He'd better agree. If not, no matter—send word to Mōri Terumoto to eliminate Kanda Shinichi, just as he assassinated Oda Nobunaga. Mōri kills, not we."

"Our Nagasaki Viceroyalty is blameless, and we mourn Kanda Shinichi's death."

"Oda Nobunaga will understand."

Xu Wei believed Oda Nobunaga would make a clear choice: the circulation of Great Ming treasure notes in Japan was one of the key ropes binding Japan under Ming suzerainty—unacceptable to lose. To the Japanese, Kanda Shinichi might be a hero; but he obstructed the circulation of Great Ming treasure notes—he must be removed.

When Oda Nobunaga sent his sister, the famed "First Beauty of the Warring States," Oda Ichijo, to the Great Ming, he secured only a reprieve. Since the Great Ming issued seventeen conditions, Oda's Anji Shogunate's survival no longer depended on Japanese approval.

Oda Nobunaga's Anji Shogunate needed only the Great Ming's recognition to endure. At this point, Oda could only make decisions contrary to Japanese interests.

Being someone else's dog is this helpless.

But being the Great Ming's dog wasn't always like this. Korea served the Great Ming for over two hundred years, and the Great Ming never interfered in Korean affairs—except once, during the Emperor Jingtai reign, when Minister of Rites Hu Ying demanded Korea strictly observe the "Vassal State Rituals," requiring kowtowing to receive imperial investiture—the sole demand the Great Ming ever made of Korea.

For Korean monarchs, if they were willing to kowtow, they received annual tribute trade licenses—a very profitable deal, and Korea's status remained rock-solid.

But when Japan became the dog, things changed: the Great Ming's hand reached into every corner—even the appointment of the Minister of Popular Affairs.

The Great Ming had just emerged from the Southeastern Japanese pirates crisis; Xu Wei was the very man who pacified the Japanese pirates. Talk of forgiveness with him? He'd stuff you with eighteen-pound cannons.

"Oda Nobunaga, as Senior First Rank Regent, Chief Minister, and Taishō, wrote that he will implement the 'One Public, Two Private' policy nationwide, abolishing the complex tax systems of each provincial domain and replacing them with a unified 'One Public, Two Private' system." Xu Wei turned to the second matter: Japan's tax reform.

Oda Nobunaga, now granted the title of Regent Chief Minister by the Japanese Emperor, had become the de facto Anji Shogunate, assuming actual governance and beginning to reform Japan's overall tax system. This was an open strategy: once widely known, any daimyo refusing this policy would lose popular support.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the old fox Tokugawa Ieyasu, and the repeatedly defeated Mōri Terumoto were not "heaven-sent heroes."

"Heaven-sent heroes" typically describe powerful leaders who emerge when the state is in crisis, turning the tide and leading the realm to revival; such figures share another trait: tragic endings.

Undoubtedly, Oda Nobunaga was Japan's heaven-sent hero, Japan's fortune—at least he still pursued fairness and justice, dragging Japan's commoners out of the hell of war.

"In tandem with the 'One Public, Two Private' policy is the Sword Hunt Edict: confiscating civilian weapons under the control of the Military Equipment Bureau, enforcing separation of farmer and warrior—samurai to live in castles, commoners to till fields. This is Oda's consistent stance: he believes Japan's crisis stems from samurai violence; when samurai concentrate in castles, conflict naturally ends." Xu Wei spoke of the Sword Hunt Edict, the crucial companion policy to tax reform.

With farmer-warrior separation, daimyo could no longer mobilize massive armies; each campaign would devastate production. After separation, conflict would shift from mass warfare to elite infighting—daimyo could no longer drag the largest class, the peasants, into war. Scale would shrink drastically, and basic production would be preserved.

"Clearly, Oda Nobunaga truly wants to end Japan's chaos. Even though Ming interference prevents him from becoming the unifier, he still seeks to become shogun, hoping to end this chaotic age and let Japan breathe." Sun Sun Kehong sincerely said: "He's truly relentless."

By Sun Hongyi's standard, Oda Nobunaga, facing mortal threats after his son's assassination, still held firm to his principles—that was perseverance; his principles embraced not just court nobles and provincial lords, but suffering commoners—that was magnanimity, caring for all the people.

Oda Nobunaga fully deserved the title of gentleman.

"We should support his policies," Xu Wei said to all. "Both 'One Public, Two Private' and the Sword Hunt Edict will face fierce opposition; war will escalate further—and our Nagasaki Viceroyalty's hand can reach deeper."

"Japan has nine million souls. If we kill them with Ming troops, even if every blade blunts, we won't finish. But if they kill each other, it'll be much faster."

"Ah, now it's probably only eight million."

"This year's trade fair is about to begin. As before, no treasure notes accepted—only silver. Especially tell merchants who favor the Great Ming: the overseas circulating treasure notes are valid only in Japan; they have zero redemption value in the Great Ming." Xu Wei rubbed his temples, slightly weary.

Despite repeated orders, Ming merchants' enthusiasm for the overseas circulating treasure notes persisted—caused by the Great Ming's silver shortage; some even accepted these notes within the Great Ming itself, leaving the Nagasaki Viceroyalty helpless. Strict bans still allowed partial notes to flow back.

The Great Ming would never redeem the overseas circulating treasure notes, but Japanese daimyo controlled silver mines and accepted them; bring these notes to their territories, and they could be redeemed—so in practice, the overseas circulating treasure notes were a form of redeemable paper currency, and gradually, people would hold them.

"The Armory has promised a production capacity of five million stamped silver coins by the end of this year, and over six and a half million by the end of next year—could that alleviate the silver shortage?" Luo Ying asked, frowning.

"No. The Great Ming is trapped in a paradox where the more silver coins there are, the fewer there are." Xu Wei leaned back in his chair, spreading his hands in helplessness. The absurd conclusion—more silver coins mean fewer silver coins—was still gaining strength, growing worse by the day.

The more silver coins there are, the more vibrant the economy becomes; the more vibrant the economy, the more silver coins it demands. Relative to the total economic volume, the quantity and proportion of silver coins actually decrease, failing to meet market demand.

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