Chapter 606: Weighing the Harms and Choosing the Lesser, Weighing the Benefits and Choosing the Greater

Since the separation of heaven and earth, humans are humans, and gods are gods. Human affairs are managed by humans, and divine affairs are managed by gods. Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di claimed to be reincarnations of the True Martial Great Emperor, which was a necessity of the situation at the time.

Zhu Yuanzhang faced a state that had been divided for a long time, and Zhu Di needed the True Martial Great Emperor to prove his legitimacy. "Taizong" was the temple name Zhu Di wanted most.

Now, the court decided to promote gods and Buddhas and mythologize the Emperor. Hence Hai Rui considered it extremely inappropriate.

Zhang Juzheng had disagreed with Hence Hai Rui returning to the court from the beginning. When the court discussion passed Hence Hai Rui's return, Zhang Juzheng said, "Bending leads to completeness."

This is Hence Hai Rui. When he thinks something is wrong, he will persist to the end, and his halo as a moral model makes it impossible not to seriously consider his opinions. After all, Hence Hai Rui is a true pure scholar.

Zhang Juzheng and Wang Chonggu successively agreed to mythologize the Emperor again, but Hence Hai Rui resolutely did not approve.

"Suiyuan is a newly opened land, so it can be slightly changed." Ceng Shengwu was a conservative who believed that ancestral laws were fine.

"This is not a matter of change. The New Deal is like a dike. If one place collapses, it cannot be blocked or sealed. One can only let the river change its course, the good fields be flooded, and the people have to migrate. If we talk about the reincarnation of the True Martial Great Emperor within the long dike of the New Deal, it will become the place where the dike collapses, collapsing thousands of miles." Hence Hai Rui refuted Ceng Shengwu's point of view and further expounded the reasons for his opposition.

Besides secularization, there was the most important reason: this could become a breakthrough for the New Deal. Mythologizing the Emperor itself does not conform to the Great Ming's traditional politics, culture, and public order and good customs. Once the mythologizing of the Emperor is opened, the day of counter-attack and liquidation will be the day the New Deal collapses.

When a flood passes through, there will be piping on the dike. Under the action of water pressure, water permeates the dike, forming pore flow within the dike, carrying away soil, and then intensifying, eventually collapsing the dike.

And what Hence Hai Rui worried about was that mythologizing the Emperor would become that collapse point of the New Deal.

"Chief Censor Hai's words are reasonable." Zhang Juzheng frankly admitted that what Hence Hai Rui said made a lot of sense. He looked at Hence Hai Rui and said, "Then what does Chief Censor Hai have in mind?"

"I and Vice Minister Wang have been blocking it before, preventing the official factories from having too much power. The distribution of coal in the coal markets was convenient for the people, but it caused trouble. After the Xu family controlled the coal market, they added a lot of loess to the honeycomb coal in hopes of more profit, and even funded Shen Zibin, Luo Yuren, and others to found miscellaneous reports, drumming up public opinion and causing the evil incident of kneeling outside the Jieku Institute."

"Chief Censor Hai, sometimes, one can only weigh the harms and choose the lesser, weigh the benefits and choose the greater. This is the way of weighing things."

Zhang Juzheng had to persuade Hence Hai Rui. As a representative of the pure scholars, once Hence Hai Rui no longer supported the New Deal, causing the pure scholars to follow suit, it would bring huge trouble to the New Deal. The censorate officials were now like sheep because there were no benchmark figures like Hence Hai Rui. Once Hence Hai Rui took the lead in opposing, the Great Ming could only embark on a path of completely covering mouths and banning.

"Some things can naturally be weighed for pros and cons, and slightly changed. I am not a stubborn person who doesn't know how to change. But Yuanfu, some things cannot be 'bent to be complete.' The Emperor is the Emperor of ten thousand people." Hence Hai Rui looked at Zhang Juzheng and was also arguing on reasonable grounds.

"Your servant also thinks Hence Hai Rui's words are reasonable." Li Youzi did not intend to take the opportunity to fall into the trap. Hence Hai Rui offended Zhang Juzheng and was dismissed, and Li Youzi could have been promoted to become the Left Censor-in-Chief. Li Youzi did not do that, but chose to agree with Hence Hai Rui's opposition.

Many things are more important than promotion.

"Your servant also thinks Chief Censor Hai's words are reasonable." Wan Shihe looked left and right, but didn't dare to look at His Majesty, choosing to agree with Hence Hai Rui.

As a guardian of rituals and laws, mythologizing the Emperor clearly violated rituals and laws, so Wan Shihe naturally had to oppose it.

Zhu Yijun watched the court ministers arguing and immediately said, "My beloved ministers, my beloved ministers, listen to me."

"Let's agree first: we can argue until the Wenhua Hall is turned upside down, but once the decree leaves the Wenhua Hall, we must all execute it well. If you have opinions or thoughts, you can express them in the court discussion, otherwise, the court discussion loses its meaning."

"Liu Bowen said, 'Ten thousand men with one strength can be invincible under heaven.' If even the court ministers don't pull in the same direction, then nothing can be done."

"Alright, you continue."

Zhu Yijun hurriedly drew the line and reiterated the rules of the court discussion. Argue, you can all argue, say whatever you think, no need to hide, but once a collective decision is made, it must be resolutely executed, consistently, from beginning to end. After reiterating the rules, Zhu Yijun started the mode of watching the fun. This was also the reason why Zhu Yijun was willing to listen to politics at the gate. Watching the court officials who had passed the imperial examination and official selection arguing was extremely interesting.

"Then let's return to where we started. After destroying Buddhism, must we have a new god?" Hence Hai Rui asked.

Zhang Juzheng immediately said, "Yes, Chief Censor Hai. You have served in local government, so you should know that changing customs is by no means a matter of one morning or one evening. If changing customs were that simple, there wouldn't be so many Tusi in Guizhou, Yunnan, Sichuan, and Qian. Chief Censor, you are from Qiongzhou, so you should know the prosperity of the Tusi in Qiongzhou."

"That is indeed the case. Changing customs is a plan for a hundred years." Hence Hai Rui nodded and said, "Precisely because changing customs is a plan for a hundred years, we cannot start in the wrong direction. Because heading in the wrong direction will only lead us further and further away."

"The base scholars in the court are such an example. They don't read history, don't understand the deep meaning of the Sage's teachings, cannot renew themselves daily, and refuse to admit the principle of the development of all things. The more books these base scholars read, the more profound their mistakes become."

Striving in a wrong direction, and striving again, the result is still wrong. Knowing that this direction is wrong, but still choosing to escape and choose a shortcut because of temporary difficulties—this is not what the Great Ming, this hard bone, should do.

"Chief Censor Hai's words are reasonable. Then what does Chief Censor Hai think should be done?" Zhang Juzheng was not in a hurry and asked with a smile. If he got angry because of others' opposition during the discussion, he wouldn't be an authoritative figure, but a lunatic. One person's plan is short, but the crowd's plan is long.

"Either don't do it, or do it thoroughly. Send all these lamas to the Womagang mines to dig, and destroy all the temples—that is the right path. Since we want to destroy the lamas, we must do it thoroughly." Hence Hai Rui said very affirmatively.

"This requires greater investment and will cause widespread opposition in the Western Regions and the Sichuan-Tibet region. This is something we must consider. Chief Censor Hai's principles are naturally correct, but we must also consider the difficulty of execution. Metaphysical theories should naturally guide practice, but metaphysical practice is the first premise as a consideration for governance." Zhang Juzheng again recognized Hence Hai Rui's principles. What Hence Hai Rui said was all correct.

But reality must be considered. Complete destruction of Buddhism will trigger more united resistance.

The influence of the Lamaist sect is not only in Suiyuan, but also in the Western Regions and Sichuan-Tibet. It can even reach the point of social consensus. Does the Great Ming want to reopen the Western Regions? Must we create more enemies when reopening the Western Regions? Zhang Juzheng also knows these principles, but since he is the one governing, he must consider it more comprehensively.

This time it was Hence Hai Rui's turn to be silent.

Because Zhang Juzheng's words made more sense. He didn't necessarily not understand these principles, but he still chose this way, clearly after careful consideration, not decided by a pat on the head.

The difficulty of governance and widespread opposition are cost issues that the Great Ming must consider.

Actually, this remark by Zhang Juzheng also involved the question of whether it was worth it, which is also the style of careful calculation. Is Suiyuan really worth such investment by the court? Zhang Juzheng, who is deeply influenced by the distinction between Hua and Yi, felt that now that the Great Ming had invested nearly 30 million silver to build the imperial road and mining areas, and mastered gold, silver, copper, iron, and coal mines, it was more than enough. In Zhang Juzheng's view, being able to tie the rope tightly and not let the grassland people go south is the great success of governance.

King's transformation is just a beautiful political concept. Northern peace is Zhang Juzheng's fundamental goal.

Therefore, Zhang Juzheng chose a method with lower costs.

"Yuanfu's words are reasonable." After a long silence, Hence Hai Rui chose to agree. After all, when talking about practice, Hence Hai Rui is a pure scholar and a censor. He can avoid talking about it and not think about costs, but as the Prime Minister, Zhang Juzheng must consider it.

After heated discussion, it was finally approved to promote the reincarnation of the True Martial Great Emperor in the grasslands. The Long Hu Mountain Celestial Master Zhang Guoxiang and the visiting envoy Matteo Ricci, who studied Daoist scriptures, went to the grasslands together. The court discussion approved the reincarnation of the True Martial Great Emperor.

"Eh? Don't I need to issue an imperial edict?" Zhu Yijun finished reading Zhang Juzheng's floating ticket and was immediately stunned. The final court discussion result was that the lamas would suffer, and the infamy would be borne by Pan Jixun and Lady San Niang.

The reincarnation of the True Martial Great Emperor, that is, the Emperor himself, was not publicly acknowledged.

The Emperor did not issue an imperial edict to destroy Buddhism, and the Emperor did not issue an imperial edict to promote the reincarnation of the True Martial Great Emperor. That is to say, the Great Ming court did not admit to mythologizing the Emperor. It left no evidence to prove that it was the court's idea. It was entirely a strange trick devised by the local government to solve local contradictions, and it had nothing to do with the Emperor. This is a typical case of wanting to solve the problem but not wanting to take the blame. It just suffered Pan Jixun and Lady San Niang.

The infamy was borne by Pan Jixun and Lady San Niang.

Zhu Yijun avoided talking about the reincarnation of the True Martial Great Emperor, but the officials of the Ministry of Rites and the Court of State Ceremonial had already communicated with Lady San Niang in advance. Lady San Niang was very glad that the court could tacitly approve their promotion of mythologizing the Emperor, which was already very rare. Therefore, Lady San Niang did not take the initiative to mention the reincarnation of the True Martial Great Emperor. Everyone tacitly went to execute this destruction of Buddhism decree that did not exist in the documents.

Lady San Niang mainly reported the progress of livestock farming in the grasslands.

Only then did Zhu Yijun realize that he had fallen into a misunderstanding. Listening to Lady San Niang, the Emperor realized that the incidence and mortality rate of livestock farming were lower because the living environment of livestock farming was more stable. Humans have acclimatization problems, and livestock also have them.

Zhu Yijun originally thought that livestock farming would be easier to get sick, but in fact, it was not.

The only problem with livestock farming is that the cost is extremely high. Not every herdsman can afford it, so nomadic herding is still a widely existing production method.

"Your servant requests to go to the Jieku Institute to visit the great imperial physician Pang Xian. You can let the Institute Judge Wu Lian accompany you." Lady San Niang stated her request.

"Why does Lady Zhongshun want to go to the Jieku Institute?" Zhu Yijun asked curiously.

"Imperial Physician Pang needs some people to do experiments." Lady San Niang explained the origin of the matter. Pang Xian had a subject in his hands that the grasslands urgently needed.

The former Viceroy of Shaanxi, Shi Maohua, was seriously ill and specially took a big detour to the Hetao, returning to the capital from Guihua. Pang Xian was the accompanying medical official. After returning to the capital, Pang Xian started a subject related to the fate of the state: smallpox prevention and treatment.

Smallpox raged, regardless of noble or lowly, old or young, all suffered from it. Princes, nobles, scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants, once infected, were all terrified. There was no cure, and they could only sit and watch them die.

For example, the Qing Emperor Kangxi, nicknamed "Kang the Pockmarked." Kangxi was able to become Emperor entirely because smallpox raged. Kangxi had had smallpox and would not get it again, thereby gaining a huge advantage. Even if his face was full of pockmarks, he became Emperor.

The Great Ming's traditional prevention method, human pox inoculation to prevent smallpox, had four methods: pox clothing method, pox pulp method, dry seedling method, and water seedling method. But these four methods had a huge problem: the human mortality rate was extremely high.

And Pang Xian's subject was cowpox to prevent smallpox.

When in Guihua City, Pang Xian was extremely surprised to find that the girls who milked cows and the butchers who slaughtered cows in the grasslands rarely had pockmarked faces. Instead, those nobles all had pockmarked faces. This aroused Pang Xian's curiosity. Why were these poor people able to avoid being infected by smallpox?

Soon, Pang Xian discovered that the reason these girls and butchers would not get sick was very simple: they had already had smallpox, and they had all survived, and they didn't have pockmarked faces. And the source of all this was the cowpox on the cows.

"Then let Wu Lian take you to visit." Zhu Yijun approved Lady San Niang's request, and then asked, "Is smallpox in the grasslands also very serious?"

Lady San Niang pondered repeatedly and said, "When you go out, you see nothing but white bones covering the plains. On the road, there are hungry women holding their children and abandoning them in the grass. Every time the plague rages, several tribes perish. They can't even leave the names of the tribes."

"Your Majesty, the Lamaist sect in the grasslands is unscrupulous, and this is also related to it. They cannot resort to good doctors and can only resort to gods and Buddhas."

Li Zhi mentioned more than once that to make people get rid of religion, they must get rid of the environment that needs religion. Harsh climate, cruel killing, raging plague, and precarious life made the grassland people have to believe in that illusory other shore, placing everything on the other shore and the afterlife.

"Your Majesty is a wise ruler. Your hand points to the grasslands, and heavenly soldiers and generals save the border people from fire and water; Your Majesty is the sun in the sky, and all things grow under Your Majesty's protection." Lady San Niang said with an extremely exaggerated tone and flattering language, stating a fact on the grasslands: His Majesty's lofty status in the hearts of the grassland people.

Lady San Niang and Pan Jixun were not without basis in thinking of using the reincarnation of the True Martial Great Emperor to replace the deformed belief of the Lamaist sect, but because His Majesty had widespread support in the grasslands.

Perhaps His Majesty, as a heaven-born noble, didn't know himself what it meant to the grassland people to be able to eliminate poverty, disease, war, and other unstable factors and bring a stable life to the grasslands.

In short, it is a rebirth parent.

Zhu Yijun really didn't know. His King's transformation of the grasslands was mainly for the coal of Shengzhou and the gold, silver, copper, and iron of Womagang. It was driven by interests. The Great Ming needed more coal, ignited coal, ignited the process of industrialization, and promoted the realization of the commodity economy.

After Lady San Niang left, Zhang Juzheng reported the Ministry of Personnel's discussion on adding Junior Minister and Assistant officials to the upper prefectures of millions of people. The Ministry of Personnel had passed it. The trouble caused by Shen Shixing's secretary Dong Wei also had to be reacted to. It was really too busy, mainly because the population to be governed was too large.

And the upper prefectures that met the requirements of millions of people were only three: North Yamen, South Yamen, and Songjiang Prefecture. Others did not meet the requirements of upper prefectures. Guangzhou Prefecture, Zhangzhou, Ningbo, and Mizhou would also need to add Junior Ministers to assist in a few years.

Zhu Yijun specifically asked the Ministry of Revenue about the situation of smallpox in the Great Ming. The Great Ming's situation was serious but not serious. For example, in the eighth year of Wanli, smallpox broke out in Datong, ten rooms and nine sick, spreading one after another, families of several people, once infected with this plague, the whole family could not get up; for example, in the ninth year of Wanli, plague broke out in Shaanxi, seeing it meant death, and there were countless families exterminated, blocking the city gates to prevent disease changes, etc.

"The four seas and eight directions reach the sky and the extreme earth, taking the people into longevity and health, summoning harmony to the dome." The Minister of Rites, Wan Shihe, repeated the goal set for the Jieku Institute when His Majesty established it.

Now it is being realized step by step. If cowpox is really useful, even if there is only a glimmer of hope, it is a good deed for countless living people.

Lady San Niang walked into the Jieku Institute led by Institute Judge Wu Lian, but did not see Pang Xian, only saw Li Shizhen and Chen Shigong.

The cowpox experiment was actually nearing its end. Pang Xian, as the great imperial physician of the Jieku Institute and Li Shizhen's disciple, was very responsible for his experiment. After hundreds of animal experiments and experiments on many Lingchi criminals in the Jieku Institute, Pang Xian tested it on himself. He inoculated cowpox on his arm and was now in a fifteen-day observation period.

Therefore, Lady San Niang could not see Pang Xian.

"This is very dangerous." Lady San Niang said with some disbelief, "The Jieku Institute has many specimens. These people are guilty of heinous crimes and have long been unworthy of being human. Why not use them for experiments?!"

"It has already been verified. Pang Medical Official is just to prove it himself. Shennong tasted a hundred herbs and collapsed when he encountered broken intestines. The sages of the past had their ways, so how can the disciples of later generations let the sages be shamed? 'Hear the Dao in the morning, and you can die in the evening.'" Li Shizhen said with great confidence, "And it has been verified on many Jieku criminals, and there is no problem. In fact, it is not as dangerous as imagined."

It had already been verified by animal experiments and human experiments. Pang Xian's proof was mainly to prove it himself, and also to prevent accidents. Researching smallpox is a very dangerous thing. Only after being immune to smallpox can one continue to research.

"Alright." Lady San Niang spread her hands. As a great imperial physician who had no worries about food and clothing, there was actually no need to work so hard. Perhaps, in the hearts of these great imperial physicians, there was also an other shore, a Great Harmony world without disease in the world.

The Great Ming Emperor's various decisions had begun to bear fruit. The seeds fell to the ground, took root and sprouted, and grew into towering trees.

After the Great Ming Emperor recovered his health, he became busy again. The imperial edict asking the Nagasaki Governor's Office for strategy was sent, but Xu Wei had no time to respond.

Because the Nagasaki Lineage Command and the Osaka Bay Defense Thousand-Household Office sent definite news: Oda Nobunaga's retainer, Kuki Yoshitaka of the Kumano Navy, without any mobilization order, sent out the entire navy and left Kumano Beach.

And the coastal patrol reports showed that Kuki Yoshitaka led the Kumano Navy not to fight Mori Terumoto, but straight to Nagasaki, and the target was the Nagasaki Governor's Office!

Oda Nobunaga was furious. This was the navy acting on its own!

Kuki Yoshitaka was the most radical of Oda Nobunaga's retainers. When Oda Nobunaga turned from a man of the world to a Shogun, Kuki Yoshitaka had already expressed his dissatisfaction and returned to the Wild Bear Beach. When Oda Nobunaga bowed to the Great Ming and signed the seventeen articles, Kuki Yoshitaka publicly stated after getting drunk that Oda Nobunaga was a traitor and a Great Ming running dog.

And now, after learning the news that the Nagasaki Governor's Office further formulated a more harsh silver and sulfur treaty, Kuki Yoshitaka finally couldn't bear it anymore and came toward the Nagasaki Governor's Office.

The Nagasaki Command Commander Li Chengli said with a serious face, "The Kumano Thirteen Armies led by Kuki Yoshitaka have a total of seven ironclad ships, six zhang three chi long, three zhang six chi wide. It is a wide ship that can only sail in coastal waters, relying on manpower to drive it. Each ship has 500 sailors, and the seven ironclad ships have a total of 3,500 people."

"There are also 530 large and small ships, with a total of more than 10,000 sailors, mainly using long and short weapons and bows and arrows, with only a small amount of firearms. They are coming aggressively."

"In terms of hydrology, we don't know as much as the Japanese. I'm afraid it's very difficult to stop them from landing. This is the Japanese's advantage. Mobility and geographical advantage, they know Kyushu Island better than us."

"And our advantage is that there are many firearms and strong cities to defend. We only need to guard the camps around Nagasaki and wait for the Great Ming Navy to support us."

Finding enemy ships in the vast ocean is extremely difficult. This is not something that coastal patrol can search with manpower. The enemy will definitely land on Kyushu Island and then advance to Nagasaki. A great battle is about to break out.

The response method of Nagasaki Command Commander Li Chengli is actually the Portuguese and Spanish tactics: using strong cities, sharp cannons, and firearms to defend the city, waiting for reinforcements to arrive, lining up to shoot, repelling the enemy, and continuing colonial rule.

This tactic was very, very useful in the Age of Discovery. It was just bullying you for not having siege weapons. This tactic was so good that the Great Ming occupied the right time, place, and people, but it took two and a half years to gnaw down the Strait of Malacca and establish the Old Port Governor's Office.

The Nagasaki camp plus Nagasaki City was enough for the Japanese Navy to gnaw for two and a half years.

"This is Oda Nobunaga's resistance, under the name of the navy acting on its own." Xu Wei frowned and said, "Just in time!" ===== CHAPTER 608 =====

The production scale of the Lanzhou wool factory is still expanding, and the effects of economic pacification have begun to show. Many tribes from the Qinghai direction have requested to submit to the Ming. The newly appointed Viceroy of the Three Frontiers, Shen Yiguan, requested instructions from the imperial court on whether to allow these tribes to submit, and ultimately, permission was granted.

After submitting, their mode of production will also change from nomadic to sedentary. The Great Ming's civilizing influence in Suiyuan has achieved a certain level of impact; at least the tribes doing wool business with the Lanzhou wool factory now know that leaning against a big tree truly makes for good shade.

As for Liaodong, the discussion concerns the internal transfer of Li Chengliang. The main issue is that the Great Ming's establishment of a Provincial Administration Commission in Liaodong has been delayed due to the presence of Li Chengliang and his guest troops. If Li Chengliang is transferred internally, the process of turning Liaodong into counties and prefectures can be significantly advanced, and the Great Ming would also change from two capitals and fifteen provinces to sixteen provinces.

The main reason the proposal ultimately failed to pass the court deliberation was the need to rely on Li Chengliang to continue his policy of "taking what is measured" and to continue expanding the territory of Liaodong.

The content of the court deliberation was vast. Zhu Yijun rested for seven days, and many matters required his handling. After the morning court, Zhu Yijun went to the Northern Camp to inspect the troops and horses, and by the time he returned to Tonghe Palace, the sun was already setting in the west.

"The court's punishment for Director Tu Long was merely to return to his native place and await employment. Although he lost his official status, he still retains his scholarly honor. The court simply felt that what he did was too abstract, but these supporters of Director Tu Long truly want him dead." After hearing Zhao Mengyou's report, Zhu Yijun burst into laughter.

Director Tu Long's poetry is written exceptionally well, and he has many supporters. When these supporters heard that Director Tu Long had been dismissed for his romantic and licentious behavior at Taibai Tower, they immediately took action, running about everywhere on his behalf.

Some pleaded with the Grand Secretaries, hoping they would intercede; others made sarcastic, cynical remarks to mock the court for lacking tolerance and a spirit of freedom; still others ran about spreading the word, even conspiring to go to the Meridian Gate to prostrate themselves and request that the Emperor show mercy beyond the law.

That is why Zhu Yijun said these fellows want Director Tu Long dead, because Zhu Yijun made it very clear: if anyone continues to pester and cause trouble, Director Tu Long will be fitted with a cangue and paraded through the streets for three days. Director Tu Long is very talented, and his performance while serving in Qingpu County also showed great ability. If he were paraded through the streets in a cangue for three days, what face would such a great poet and talent have left to live in this world?

Director Tu Long has already submitted a memorial of gratitude; the principal has admitted his guilt, yet these supporters insist on stirring up trouble.

"Where is Director Tu Long?" Zhu Yijun took out a slingshot and suddenly fired a blunt arrow toward the carp swimming in the Dragon Pond, but this time he missed. It was not that Zhu Yijun's aim was poor, but that these carp had long since grown accustomed to hiding at the bottom of the water upon hearing the Emperor's footsteps.

"He has fled. After receiving the imperial decree and reporting to the Ministry of Personnel, he left immediately. He is probably almost at Zhuozhou by now," Feng Bao said, bowing his head.

Director Tu Long knows very well that the fact the Emperor was still willing to give him the punishment of returning home to await employment for his absurd behavior was actually out of a fondness for his talent. After all, the absurd incident did not occur while His Majesty was recuperating, so it could be considered a slight show of respect.

If Director Tu Long were any less tactful, he would not be a scholar.

The supporters are still running about, while the principal has already run away.

"He runs quite fast!" Zhu Yijun said with a smile: "Have Wang Xiyuan post a notice telling everyone that Director Tu Long has already left. If anyone continues to pester tomorrow, have Director Tu Long caught and brought back to be paraded through the streets. Three days is too short; the last day of the fifth month is the day for the new wine inspection. Since all the wine shops are competing for the top spot, let him be paraded until after the inspection."

"Doesn't he like the public eye? Let him have his fill of it."

"I obey the decree." Feng Bao shuddered. If he were paraded from the fourth month until mid-sixth month, no matter how thick-skinned Director Tu Long was, he would likely just die of shame.

After Zhu Yijun finished his evening meal and was preparing to review the day's memorials, a young eunuch walked in and said, bowing his head: "Your Majesty, Wang Xiyuan, the Vice Prefect of Shuntian, requests an audience."

"Summon him."

"Your subject pays respects to Your Majesty. May Your Majesty be well." Wang Xiyuan performed the rites properly. Although His Majesty told him to forgo the rites, he remained kneeling and did not rise, knocking his head again and saying: "Your Majesty, this is my memorial to retire. I beg to return to my hometown."

"If I recall correctly, you were a jinshi in the fifth year of Longqing and a student of the Grand Secretary. You were only twenty-seven when you passed the exams, and you are only forty now. Why are you begging to retire?" Zhu Yijun said, his brows furrowed.

Begging to retire means saying, "I am too old to handle affairs, and I beg Your Majesty to release me to rely on my relatives." If Wang Xiyuan wants to retire, are there any court officials in the Great Ming who shouldn't?

Forty years old is the prime of life.

"Your Majesty is wise, your subject is indeed forty this year." Wang Xiyuan hurriedly knocked his head. The man who was once in the prime of his youth and full of spirit is now a middle-aged man.

"Is it the Director Tu Long matter that makes you so troubled?" Zhu Yijun opened the memorial and asked.

"Director Tu Long? Ah? That matter is simple. Just find a few clerks to explain the situation with reason and emotion; it is not troublesome." Wang Xiyuan reacted for a moment before remembering what matter His Majesty was referring to. This matter is actually very simple.

Zhu Yijun finished reading the memorial. In reality, the number of people in the capital is increasing, and Wang Xiyuan is finding it difficult to manage. He feels incompetent and ashamed of Zhang Juzheng's recommendation and the Emperor's trust. He truly has no face to remain and is preparing to go home to grow sweet potatoes.

"Including the commoners in the suburbs, the capital now has 2.84 million people. It is indeed difficult for you, Minister Wang," Zhu Yijun said with great emotion.

The main issue is that in the capital, any case that arises involves people with higher official ranks than Wang Xiyuan. Being the "father and mother official" of this capital is truly not an easy job.