Chapter 634: The Secret of Heaven and Earth Unwittingly Revealed, Beginning from the First Stroke of the Sage Xi Huang

Oda Nobunaga had been under constant threat of assassination.

Zhu Yijun suddenly saw the shadow of the "Daoist Master" in Oda Nobunaga; perhaps it was this endless stream of assassinations that ultimately drove the Daoist Master into complete despair, hiding away in the Western Garden to become a figurehead emperor.

The *daimyos* of Japan assassinated Oda Nobunaga for various reasons, but in truth, there was only one goal: to force Oda Nobunaga to stop in his tracks.

Oda Nobunaga's Azuchi Shogunate harmed the interests of the majority of *daimyos* because, from beginning to end, he insisted on pushing his policy of "two parts for the lord, one part for the people." This policy, which Oda Nobunaga steadfastly maintained, was the fundamental reason he was assassinated.

Japan is located on the Pacific Ring of Fire, a land with many mountains and little arable soil. Furthermore, with a population of eight million, the contradiction between too many people and too little land was exceptionally acute. Because of the constant warfare, the order of production was severely damaged, causing grain yields to drop further, and the concentration of farmland in the hands of the *daimyos* only exacerbated the grain crisis.

The *daimyos*, retainers, and samurai of Japan were the ruling class; they paid no taxes, which led to a shrinking tax base. Since no taxes could be collected from the ruling class, and the chaos of war required vast amounts of grain, it ultimately resulted in the current situation of eight parts for the lord and two parts for the people, or even nine parts for the lord and one part for the people.

To touch the distribution of grain was equivalent to taking the *daimyos'* lives.

Oda Nobunaga's policy of "two parts for the lord, one part for the people" included not only tax rate adjustments but also the redistribution of the means of production. Oda Nobunaga had always wanted to concentrate the samurai in the cities and return the farmers to the countryside; the samurai would hold no land and exist as soldiers, while the farmers would hold the land and supply the samurai to defend their homes.

This touched upon the interests of all the *daimyos*.

"If Oda Nobunaga were willing to abandon his policies, he could be a high-and-mighty, respected, and very safe Shogun, just like the Shogun Ashikaga Yoshiaki," Zhu Yijun said, looking at the memorial from Xu Wei in his hands with a complex expression.

Oda Nobunaga did not choose to abandon his consistent principles; instead, he chose to intensify them.

In Xu Wei's memorial, it was noted that Oda Nobunaga was also exploring a better way to realize his goal of having farmers hold the land.

Oda Nobunaga proposed the "Farmland Cooperative Order," which was to unite individual farming households and have them hold land collectively, based on village settlements. In just one month, Oda Nobunaga established over 300 agricultural cooperatives, with over 30,000 people joining. Above the cooperatives were the unions, of which there were three, reporting directly to Oda Nobunaga.

Any landlord owning more than one hectare of land would have it directly confiscated.

But very quickly, Oda Nobunaga's Farmland Cooperative Order went bankrupt because the senior member of his retainer group, Shibata Katsuie, took the lead in opposing the policy. At the same time that the head of the retainer group opposed the policy, samurai whose land had been confiscated began to forcibly reclaim their land. In the ensuing chaos, Oda Nobunaga had no choice but to announce the withdrawal of the Farmland Cooperative Order.

In Japan, farmers were not allowed to own any weapons, so the samurai could easily take back their land and inflict inhuman punishments on those farmers who dared to offend them.

This was undoubtedly a brave attempt, but it ended in failure, and this latest assassination attempt on Oda Nobunaga had a great deal to do with the Farmland Cooperative Order.

"Where did he learn this Farmland Cooperative Order?" Zhu Yijun looked at the cooperative order, feeling a strange sense of familiarity.

"Military colonies, government-run factory cooperatives, and engineering corps." When Feng Bao first received the memorial, he also felt it was familiar. After thinking about it carefully, he realized it was likely a copy of the Ming Dynasty's military colony system.

The Ming military colony system had indeed decayed; in the heartland of the Ming, it had long existed in name only. However, along the Nine Frontiers, the military colony system was prevalent because the Nine Frontiers were war zones that required soldiers.

Clearly, Oda Nobunaga wanted to copy the homework of the founding Emperor Taizu, but he didn't understand it well enough to copy it correctly.

Zhu Yuanzhang's homework was something even Zhu Yijun, the Ming Emperor, couldn't fully master; for a Japanese tribal chieftain to think he could master it was pure daydreaming.

Oda Nobunaga did not give up on the Japanese version of the military colony system; he begged the Nagasaki Regional Military Commission and the Viceroy's Office, hoping the Ming would push it forward. The opinion given by the Nagasaki Viceroy's Office was: do not agree.

The Nagasaki Viceroy's Office simply did not have the strength to push through a policy involving the redistribution of the means of production; everything had to depend on Oda Nobunaga's own efforts.

The Ming Emperor issued a vermilion rescript on Xu Wei's memorial, approving the judgment and decision of Xu Wei and the others.

Zhu Yijun picked up the second memorial, which came from Shen Shixing, the Provincial Governor of Songjiang.

"Hmm?" Zhu Yijun sat up straight. There was a new situation in Songjiang Prefecture. Faced with the Ming court's exploration of a collective ownership economy—where the means of production and tools were collectively owned by the craftsmen—the powerful local gentry had come up with their own methods.

That was to fully utilize the "wild goose formation" characteristics of Ming craftsmen: when work was urgent, they would recruit craftsmen in large numbers, and when work was not so urgent, they would dismiss them. The goal was to ensure that the workshops did not have to support the craftsmen, thereby circumventing the court's notarized labor contracts and the exploration of a collective ownership economy.

"I don't have a single craftsman in my workshop; you, the court, surely can't make me notarize a labor contract that doesn't exist."

This was actually learned from the farming production model: landlords controlled the fields and rented them to those without land, called tenant farmers; during busy farming seasons, they hired laborers for short-term harvesting, called short-term workers; long-term hires who lived and worked at home were called long-term workers.

Clearly, the workshop owners were now turning long-term workshop workers into short-term workers to avoid potential political risks.

"No, the poor people and laborers work for them, and they provide remuneration. The purpose of my pushing for notarized labor contracts is just to ensure that labor is rewarded. For the powerful gentry, is paying wages really that difficult?" A sense of stifled anger was brewing in Zhu Yijun's heart.

Was Zhu Yijun's requirement high? Notarized labor contracts simply gave the ruling class and the producers equal legal status under the law, ensuring the execution of labor contracts. Getting paid for work done—wasn't that a matter of course?

The lesson of the Tang Hongyuan Dyeing Workshop was enough. The craftsmen's resentment wasn't about Yuan Shen going in and out of brothels—who cared which woman the "Great Philanthropist Yuan" slept with tonight?! The resentment in the craftsmen's hearts was because they weren't being paid, because Yuan Shen clearly had the money but refused to pay them.

Such a simple policy was being executed repeatedly, making Zhu Yijun feel annoyed and raising a sense of malice. "Heaven creates all things to nourish the people, yet the people have no goodness to repay Heaven." Kill, kill, kill!

The method of parading through the streets was still too gentle.

"In the next chapter, for Songjiang Prefecture, anyone who dares to use short-term labor to replace long-term labor will be treated as defying an imperial decree! Confiscate their property! Exile them to the frontiers!" Zhu Yijun picked up his vermilion brush and wrote the word "Kill."

Using the name of short-term labor to replace long-term labor—anyone who tries to circumvent the law by swapping one for the other will have their homes confiscated, and their entire families exiled to Java to refine oil.

The Ming didn't have enough light oil, and Java had petroleum. Go to Java to refine oil!

This was undoubtedly a harsh law, but Zhu Yijun's patience had been worn thin by the powerful gentry. Sometimes, without thunderous means, some policies would ultimately be nothing but reflections in a mirror or castles in the air.

"Your subject obeys the decree." Feng Bao took the memorial and sent it to the Grand Secretariat.

Zhang Juzheng, Wang Chonggu, Wang Guoguang, and Wan Shihe were all on duty in the Grand Secretariat. The moment they received the memorial, Zhang Juzheng had everyone stop what they were doing.

"If you want to oppose it, oppose it now, and you can still seal and return it. Once it reaches the Six Ministries, the Censorate, and Songjiang Prefecture, it will be like spilled water that cannot be gathered," Zhang Juzheng said as he passed the memorial to the four Grand Secretaries.

"I do not oppose it." Wan Shihe, after reading the memorial, said with uncontrollable anger: "This is bullying people too much! They won't even notarize a labor contract or pay labor remuneration according to the agreement. How much oil and water can they squeeze out of the poor and the laborers!"

Wan Shihe was very angry. This was a resolution formed in the Zhao Wenhua Hall, representing that all the Ming lords approved of this policy. This wasn't just disobeying the Emperor's decree; it was clearly a slap in the face to the court officials!

"I do not oppose it." Wang Chonggu gave his answer after reading the memorial. He shook his head and said: "At the Tang Hongyuan Dyeing Workshop, the craftsmen were already taking up arms to demand their wages. Do these powerful gentry really have to wait until the craftsmen twist their heads off to use as balls before they understand what it means to be rewarded for their labor?"

"His Majesty is doing this for the good of the powerful gentry. If they insist on letting the resentment in the craftsmen's hearts pile up until it's beyond control, I'm afraid none of them will have a good end."

As the Minister of Justice, Wang Chonggu had only one attitude toward this matter: His Majesty is kind-hearted.

It was simply absurd. The poor and laborers were naturally easy to bully, but there was no reason to bully people like this. If the court didn't mediate the contradictions within, that would be dereliction of duty.

"Confiscating homes is good. Just one Tang Hongyuan Dyeing Workshop is still too few," Wang Guoguang said gleefully. Wasn't this like sending a pillow when one is sleepy? He was just worried that there were too few experimental samples and that it lacked reference significance. Since the powerful gentry were willing to offer their own family property to become the cost of institutional exploration, it was simply wonderful.

If they have the ability, let them rebel! The Ming court is right in the Northern Yamen; if they have the ability, let them fight their way to the Northern Yamen!

"Then let it pass." Zhang Juzheng would not oppose it. His patience had also been worn thin. If it were a policy like the "Return Land Decree" that confiscated land, such opposition might be understandable, but "reward for labor" was a matter of course; it was part of believing in rewards and punishments.

One must clearly understand that labor remuneration is not equal to the value produced by the craftsmen, but rather a portion of the value remaining after exploitation; the market price is not fair.

"This Great Ming Sect is really... sigh." Wan Shihe spoke of the pilgrimage to the Great Ming Sect. Since His Majesty agreed to open a crack, nearly a month had passed. On the Mid-Wang Qiujie of the 15th of the eighth month, court officials only had to work half a day according to regulations before they could reunite with their families, but Wan Shihe had work to do.

His business was very simple: arranging the tribute delegation.

The Ming court had collected nearly one million taels of silver in pilgrimage fees, so it had to be arranged properly. This one million silver was taken with a guilty conscience. The Ming had only arranged for the pilgrimage delegation to visit the Southern Yamen to see the Porcelain Tower of the Great Gratitude Temple. Afterward, the delegation traveled from south to north, taking a fast boat from Songjiang Prefecture to arrive at Tianjin Wei.

The entire grand tour lasted only fifteen days, with the Northern Yamen being the final stop.

"Are there any difficulties?" Zhang Juzheng asked suspiciously.

"They are too fanatical." Wan Shihe expressed the difficulties very clearly. He said quite helplessly: "I'm afraid it is very different from the holy land in their minds."

Wan Shihe finally understood why His Majesty felt that "Celestial Empire" was a derogatory term, or even an accusation that the Emperor, the master of the state, was incompetent. Those who were willing to pay so much money, and even willing to delay maritime trade, just to wait in Manila, Luzon, for the tribute believers, were all fanatical believers.

The greater the expectation, the greater the disappointment.

"The money cannot be returned." Zhang Juzheng deliberated and said: "The money has already entered the Inner Treasury. To return the money, it would have to go through the Inner Treasury's accounts. So, don't return it. If they feel disappointed, don't come again in the future."

Cheat one if you can! One million silver—the State Treasury and the Inner Treasury had already split it fifty-fifty. Returning the money was impossible.

"Alright." Wan Shihe exhaled a breath of turbid air. In the next chapter, the Ministry of Rites and the Court of State Ceremonial would handle the reception well. This pilgrimage delegation of twenty people had paid a full one million taels of silver in pilgrimage fees!

There were twenty merchant ships in total for the tribute. Among them, only one person per ship could go to the Southern Yamen to pay respects at the Porcelain Tower of the Great Gratitude Temple and come to the Northern Yamen to meet the Emperor. The rest of the crew could only stay in the "City of All Nations" in Songjiang Prefecture, at most looking at the prosperity of Songjiang Prefecture.

The Great Ming is not perfect; on the contrary, the Great Ming has many problems, and the believers in the pilgrimage group will likely be very disappointed.

The pilgrimage delegation had already arrived at the Tongzhou Assembly Hall, waiting for the official documents from the Ministry of Rites before they could rush from Tongzhou to stay at the Four Barbarian Halls in the capital, waiting for the Emperor's summons.

Contrary to the disappointment Wan Shihe imagined, the believers of the pilgrimage delegation became even more fanatical after seeing the real Ming.

"We are the first group of people to set foot on the holy land," a woman in a plain robe said loudly, clenching her fists. "We are the saints!"

This woman was Ma Minister Liang de Montmorency. This surname came from the Lord of Damville, the Duke of Montmorency, and her father was the current Marshal of Falanxi and Governor of Languedoc.

The glory of the family had become precarious with the decline of Falanxi's national power. In the general environment of the "Grand Tour" of the West, Ma Minister Liang traveled to Lisbon, where she first came into contact with the Great Ming Sect, and subsequently became a devout believer, even paying a high price for it, having a Portuguese captain bring her to the distant East.

"But what we see is not only prosperity, but also some dirty corners," a believer said with a furrowed brow.

Ma Minister Liang immediately said loudly: "This is the reality! The theory of contradictions tells us that things are contradictory. If there were only a beautiful side, it would inevitably be false!"

"You are right!" The believer suddenly realized. Sure enough, their understanding of the doctrine was not deep enough, which was why they had such confusion.

"The Chinese believe that true wisdom comes from Heaven and Earth, not from the gift of God!"

"The sun, moon, mountains, and rivers gave inspiration to the ancestors! The Yin and Yang of the two poles shaped the universal rules!"

"In the primitive era, Heaven and Earth gradually revealed their mysteries to the wise Fuxi. After many days and nights of meditation, the embodiment of wisdom realized the Pre-Heaven Eight Trigrams from the sun, moon, mountains, rivers, Yin, Yang, dusk, and dawn!"

"Yin and Yang give birth to the two poles, the two poles give birth to the four images, and the four images give birth to the Eight Trigrams!"

Ma Minister Liang, with extreme excitement, roared with all her might to all the fellow believers. Her face was flushed, and her emotions were so intense that even her eyes flickered with fanaticism.

Gao Qiyu was proficient in Latin and could understand what Ma Minister Liang was saying. At this moment, Gao Qiyu felt absurdity; the matter was very inconsistent with common sense, to the point that Gao Qiyu could not find corresponding allusions or experiences in the long history of the Central Plains to understand this scene.

He, a Ming person, was not as fanatical as Ma Minister Liang.

"What is Taiji? Taiji is the chaos before Heaven and Earth were separated, the silence before all things appeared, the beginning of everything."

"What are the two poles? One Yin and one Yang, the clear above and the turbid below. Above is Yang, below is Yin. All things have Yin and Yang, opposing each other, just like day and night, light and dark, cold and hot, strong and weak, movement and stillness, yet they are inseparable and form a whole!"

"What are the four images? When the sun first rises, Yang is above and Yin is below, which is Lesser Yang; when the scorching sun is in the sky, it is double Yang in the sky, which is Greater Yang; when the sun sets, Yin is above and Yang is below, which is Lesser Yin; when night falls and all things are lonely, it is Greater Yin."

"What a perfect pattern." Ma Minister Liang stood in front of an exhibition board, pointing at the painting on it, sighing in admiration at the perfection of the pattern.

Gao Qiyu held a fan, fanning constantly. He was a Confucian scholar, not a Yin-Yang master. He only had a half-understanding of this set. So, in the doctrine of the Great Ming Sect, the cycle of a day was the process of the formation of the four images.

Who knew how this Ma Minister Liang understood such complex and abstract things so thoroughly.

Worthy of being a fanatical believer!

At this moment, Gao Qiyu also understood why Wan Shihe told His Majesty the Emperor that the Ming was also helpless against the Great Ming Sect. Since Xu Fan created this legend, these believers had been constantly completing this narrative, making the theory more and more complete. The more complete the theory, the more believers there were.

"In the doctrine of your Great Ming Sect, is Fuxi a human or a god?" Gao Qiyu interrupted Ma Minister Liang's fanatical explanation, asking his own confusion.

Ma Minister Liang said as a matter of course: "Of course he is a human, the embodiment of wisdom. Didn't I explain it clearly? True wisdom comes from Heaven and Earth, from nature."

Gao Qiyu was quite satisfied with this answer.

"Unwittingly revealing the secret of Heaven and Earth, beginning from the first stroke of the Sage Xi Huang"—this was the Confucian scholar's understanding of Fuxi. Fuxi was the beginning of human culture, not a matter of gods and ghosts.

At least when Xu Fan explained Fuxi, he did not put Fuxi in the ranks of gods and ghosts. That was enough. On the whole, this Great Ming Sect's explanation of Fuxi and the Son of Heaven was in line with the traditional values of the Ming.

Gao Qiyu then said: "Tonight, follow the officials of the Court of State Ceremonial to visit the Bell and Drum Tower outside the East Prosperity Gate. There is a Lantern Festival tonight. Tomorrow morning, wait at the East Prosperity Gate after the court meeting ends, waiting for the Emperor's summons. Alright, the itinerary is like this. I won't disturb you anymore."

After briefly informing them of the itinerary, Gao Qiyu chose to leave, leaving time for these believers. Regardless of whether their sensory experience was good or bad, the money would not be returned.

Ma Minister Liang, with extreme trepidation, saw the Bell and Drum Tower in the twilight. It stood there quietly, the second hand ticking with the autumn wind. As the minute hand pointed to twelve, the timekeeping for six o'clock in the afternoon began. After the bell on the Bell and Drum Tower rang six times, the officials of the Court of State Ceremonial took Ma Minister Liang up the Bell and Drum Tower to get a panoramic view of the Ming capital.

Ma Minister Liang did not know how to describe her mood. Under the afterglow of the setting sun, the orderly streets, the rows of houses, the temple fairs celebrating the Mid-Wang Qiujie, and the endless stream of lantern carts made Ma Minister Liang feel like she was in another world. At this moment, she was very sure that this was the holy land.

Zhu Yijun, as usual, did not attend the Mid-Wang Qiujie fireworks. He took Wang Yaozhuo to the Zhao Wenhua Tower and watched all the programs with a telescope. The next morning, the sun was bright. Zhu Yijun appeared in the Zhao Wenhua Hall as usual. After presiding over the court meeting, he summoned the pilgrimage delegation led by Ma Minister Liang of Falanxi.

"Pay respects to the supreme suzerain of all parts of Great Asia, the human sword-wielder assisted by wise ministers, the guardian of order and glory in the distant East, the prophet of light and wisdom in the world, His Majesty the Emperor of Great Ming." Ma Minister Liang led a group of pilgrimage believers to perform the great ceremony of five kowtows and three bows.

"The Zhao Wenhua Hall cannot accommodate so many people. Everyone, please excuse the formalities." Zhu Yijun stretched out his hand. He was very dissatisfied with these long titles. The Ministry of Rites had made significant deletions before it was reduced to a level that the Emperor could barely accept. After all, the other party had paid money.

After the interpreter translated, Ma Minister Liang stood up and said with a smile: "His Majesty is truly humorous. It is prosperous here, and everyone has a smile on their face. Although there may be unsatisfactory aspects in their lives, their eyes are still full of hope."

"Hope is such a luxurious word, but today, I saw it with my own eyes."

"You have come from afar. The Ming will fulfill the duty of a host. The ocean is full of countless risks. In the future, do not waste so much silver on these unnecessary things. This silver is enough for you to buy enough goods in Manila, Luzon, to take back to the West." Zhu Yijun's words were quite polite, also indicating that they should not waste so much in the future.

Ma Minister Liang suddenly realized something and asked with some confusion: "The humble servant of God noticed that the great Majesty seems to be able to understand what we are saying without the interpreter?"

"I have a slight understanding of Latin." Zhu Yijun did not let this misunderstanding expand and told Ma Minister Liang the truth. If Ma Minister Liang guessed that the Emperor had mastered some kind of telepathic supernatural power, that would be a joke. The Ming was always a secular country. Even if the grasslands needed the reincarnation of the True Martial Great Emperor, it was officially denied and pushed forward in a covered-up way.

"The great Majesty is indeed the embodiment of wisdom, so learned." Ma Minister Liang praised the Emperor's learning again. There was no environment for using Latin in the Ming, yet His Majesty could understand what they were saying without an interpreter.

Zhu Yijun was silent for a while. His main purpose in learning Latin was to avoid being fooled by the Ming bureaucracy. In Ma Minister Liang's eyes, it became the embodiment of wisdom and learning.

"We came from the distant West. The hardships along the way were like the endless wind and waves on the ocean. And the humble servant of God, coming to the holy land, actually has an unsolvable doubt in her heart. Please, Majesty, give me your holy instruction: What kind of Great Ming does the Ming want to become?" Ma Minister Liang bowed again and asked the doubt in her heart.

Zhu Yijun looked at Ma Minister Liang. When Li Zhi discussed the alienation of people by religion, he also mentioned that the "other shore" shaped by religion was all to explain one problem: the destination.

Clearly, the expansion speed of the Great Ming Sect was astonishing. Because the other shore existed in reality, there was no need to fabricate it, but the destination, that is, the question of "where to go," did not have a clear and distinct answer.

"This question is difficult to answer, but I can still tell you part of the answer." Zhu Yijun thought for a long time and said: "The Ming does not intend to be the hegemon of the world. In fact, in my view, in the view of the Ming, the four words 'world hegemon' are a huge trap, a trap of militarism, a thankless job that requires paying huge moral and ethical costs."

"To become the hegemon of the world, one must use vast amounts of silver to maintain military hegemony, extend the tentacles of the empire to every corner of the world, lie, and use assassinations to clear away opponents. This is a huge challenge to the traditional morality of the Ming."

In the discussions of the Ming, a more precise definition of silver was made: all silver is the hard-earned money of the people.

Because the Ming had no silver, all silver relied on overseas inflow, and all overseas inflow was exchanged by the people of the Ming with their own hands producing goods. Using the hard-earned money of the people to maintain military hegemony, stir up trouble everywhere, and realize the Emperor's vanity—this is irresponsible to the people.

"Things that the Ming does not agree with will become costly, to the point of being almost impossible to do. For example, Philip II wanted to annex Portugal, but the Ming did not agree and provided help. Things that the Ming agrees with will become very cheap, to the point of being easily successful. For example, Portugal wanted to obtain the right to distribute Ming goods." Zhu Yijun explained more clearly where the Ming was going.

"Does the Ming not intend to become the empire on which the sun never sets? But the Ming is already the empire on which the sun never sets. Portugal is a vassal state of the Ming, and the King of Portugal was enfeoffed by the Ming Emperor. Isn't this the sun never setting on the territory of the empire?" Ma Minister Liang did not quite understand and expressed her confusion.

Zhu Yijun immediately replied: "The King of Portugal, Antonio, accepting the enfeoffment was an accident. It was because he was capable himself. I only provided some help. When Portugal does not need the Ming's help, perhaps my imperial decree is just a dispensable letter to him."

"In my view, the empire on which the sun never sets is more of a curse. The Ming can get what it wants through cleaner means, rather than through bloody massacres, brutal slavery, and greedy plunder."

"Just like your Great Ming Sect, it never sells indulgences. Everyone needs to be responsible for their own actions, not by buying two indulgences to get salvation for their sins."

As a Japanese tough guy, Oda Nobunaga had never been assassinated by the Ming.

Portugal was in the diplomatic hierarchy of the Ming's vassal states, tribute states, and friendly states, above friendly states and on the edge of tribute states, completely different from vassal states.

Portugal was too far away. This special situation only appeared when they were in a desperate situation. When Portugal got rid of the shadow of Spanish annexation, the Ming would become unimportant.

Zhu Yijun thought so, and the Ministry of Rites also judged so.

"His Majesty is truly the embodiment of wisdom. These words are the greatest harvest of this trip for the servant of God." Ma Minister Liang listened to the holy instruction earnestly, performed the great ceremony of five kowtows and three bows, and said solemnly.

"Do you really understand?" Zhu Yijun spread his hands, quite helpless. I'm afraid Ma Minister Liang misunderstood his words again. He didn't know where she thought of.

"Frugality, justice, righteousness, humility, caution, honor, sincerity, compassion." Ma Minister Liang said loudly: "What the supreme Majesty said is the collection of these eight words. This is the creed of the believers of the Great Ming Sect."

"From His Majesty, I saw the practice of these eight creeds. These eight creeds will become the light and lighthouse illuminating the path of my remaining life. Similarly, for all believers, it is the same."

"Hmm?" Zhu Yijun was stunned. He leaned forward slightly and asked suspiciously: "Do these eight words correspond to the Eight Trigrams?"

"His Majesty's wisdom is as brilliant as the stars in the sky." Ma Minister Liang realized clearly again that His Majesty was indeed a wise man, and he guessed it right away. ===== CHAPTER 635 =====