Chapter 639: The Mutiny of the Luomu Battalion in Hangzhou over Military Pay

The rigidity of a system lies in its layers of added complexity. Thus, many things are full of vitality and flourishing in their initial stages, but as time passes, these layers of patches eventually turn the system into a walking corpse, operating mechanically without a shred of vigor.

Under normal circumstances, these messy patches are the burdens of history.

The Great Ming court is already over two hundred years old, and such rigidity is countless. The significance of reform and renewal lies in comprehensively optimizing the logic of these systems, thereby completing the Great Ming restoration. This is very difficult; the road is long and obstructed.

The Southern Inspection is also intended to resolve some historical burdens, such as the splitting of the Fourteen Prefectures of the Southern Yamen.

The Fourteen Prefectures of the Southern Yamen account for thirty percent of the Great Ming's tax revenue. If they were the capital region, this would be no problem at all. However, the Great Ming's dual-capital system has actually reached a dead end; the political center has completely shifted to the Northern Yamen, but the vast territory and terrifying economic strength of the Southern Yamen have formed a natural resistance to the Northern Yamen's decrees.

Splitting them is one of the most important tasks of this Southern Inspection.

Secondly, there is another contradiction in the Great Ming that needs to be eased: the contradictory state of a money shortage and a silver bottleneck. The money shortage represents a lack of cash, yet the silver bottleneck is a reality. These two states are completely opposite, yet they exist simultaneously. According to the explanation in the second volume of *Class Theory*, it is a problem of distribution.

*Class Theory* has four natural inferences, but the Great Ming currently only has the first two volumes: one acknowledges the existence of classes, and the other discusses distribution.

"Your Majesty, I believe that in cities with over one million inhabitants, we should conduct a comprehensive investigation into the gathering places of concubines and thoroughly strike at the trend of corruption." Zhang Juzheng, in his capacity as Senior Grand Secretary, proposed a decree: comprehensive anti-corruption. If you don't allow anti-corruption, then purge; just pick one.

Over one million inhabitants is the line Zhang Juzheng drew. Anti-corruption also requires costs. In cities with fewer than a million, purges only catch flies, or can't even hit flies. Moreover, the Great Ming's administrative capacity needs further recovery to achieve this.

Concubines have become the breakthrough point for anti-corruption.

"Approved." Zhu Yijun approved Zhang Juzheng's proposal, or rather, the opinion of the court officials.

If court officials do not keep concubines, then government officials cannot keep concubines; the hundred officials of the capital cannot keep concubines, and local officials cannot keep concubines either. This is the administrative power of the court from top to bottom.

On the fifteenth day of the ninth month of the twelfth year of Wanli, the Great Ming Emperor launched the largest systematic anti-corruption campaign in Great Ming history, larger in scale than the anti-corruption during the Hongwu reign. This is for the further recovery of administrative power.

When water is too clear, there are no fish. Taking a little, grabbing a little, is human nature; this belongs to administrative costs, a part of the wear and tear.

But when it gets to the point of keeping concubines and colluding with overseas rebels, while usually appearing loyal to the Emperor and the state, willing to be shattered for His Majesty, yet secretly disloyal to the Emperor and the court, defying decrees while appearing to comply, and indulging the powerful and wealthy in their plundering—such two-faced people are absolutely not allowed to be officials in the Great Ming court.

This involves the issue of loyalty.

"Your Majesty, I have a memorial to present." Wang Chonggu submitted a memorial, reporting a piece of good news: all government factories have completed the establishment of three-level schools. This is a huge piece of good news for the government factories.

Compared to the three government factories in the Great Ming capital, which broke through thorns and thistles in the prefectural examinations, harvesting 203 *xiucai* degrees—such a terrifying result—there are huge differences in various places due to the different development situations of the government factories, but basically, some results have been achieved.

The Great Ming's original *xiucai*, *juren*, and *jinshi*—these privileged classes of official selection—originally only had two major categories: military households and civilian households. Military households historically accounted for about 30%. Now, artisan households, who were originally craftsmen, have officially entered this field.

When discussing the alienation of people by money, Lin Fucheng touched upon the issue of the battlefield, the fairness of the labor market, the ownership of the means of production, and the rights that a person must possess and obtain—namely, human rights.

"Very good. You must ensure the continuation of the three-level schools, even if it's a bit rigid, it doesn't matter." Zhu Yijun gave his vermilion approval to this memorial.

Unlike military colonies and guard posts, government factories are not poor due to production, and they can still hire enough teachers. The decay of military colonies and guard posts is an economic account. Military colonies and guard posts have to pay imperial grain, that is, about thirty percent of the grain yield, and also pay more than thirty percent of the land rent to the military colonies and guard posts. Of the remaining forty percent, they still have to face the exploitation of military generals. The material produced is not sufficient. Once they multiply, they will go hungry.

However, government factory groups do not have such worries. Three-level schools, artisan schools, public welfare pharmacies, artisan official residences, etc., are all within the thirty percent allocated to the lower levels.

If government factory groups do not want to follow in the footsteps of military colonies and guard posts, they must ensure good distribution. As long as government factory groups exist, engineer regiments will exist.

"Ling Yunyi, Viceroy of Henan and Shandong, reports that the six engineer regiments have all been recruited." Zeng Shengwu, Minister of War, reported the scale of the engineer regiments. In fact, these engineer regiments already existed before. They were organized by Ling Yunyi and Wang Yie as Viceroy and Governor to cooperate with the construction of the Beijing-Kaifeng and Beijing-Miyun highways, but they did not have official designations.

Now they are recognized by the court and have been given engineer regiment designations. Thus, from the court to the local level, everyone has engineer regiments.

Zhu Yijun inquired in detail about the situation in Henan and Shandong. In the seventh month, the land survey in Henan fluctuated. Some local gentry and scholars, on the grounds of abandoned land, demanded that Ling Yunyi reduce taxes. This is the traditional conversion of disaster relief.

This game is actually very simple. Ling Yunyi reports the disaster situation to the court. The court, based on a ten-point scale, discretionarily reduces or exempts three to seven points, or exempts it entirely. And the local gentry and scholars will give a portion of the reduction to Ling Yunyi, completing the achievement of politics through bribery.

You can play like this because the taxes given to the court are public money. Reducing this tax is taking it for oneself. It is a way of damaging the public to enrich the private.

But Ling Yunyi not only did not report the disaster conversion, but also sent people to confiscate all the so-called abandoned land. The golden fields, if you gentry and scholars don't plant them and waste them in vain, I will change people to plant them.

The gentry and scholars really lost both their wife and their soldiers this time. Not only did they not win a tax reduction, but they also had a portion of their land confiscated.

"Grand Minister of Works, I have a doubt. Why don't the common people use roof tiles, but use thatch? I see that the common people mostly have thatched huts. Why is this?" Zhu Yijun was a bit strange. He frowned and said: "This thatch is repaired once a year, time-consuming and laborious, while roof tiles can be used for ten years or even longer, and roof tiles are not expensive. One thousand tiles only cost three *qian* of silver."

"Your Majesty, they can't support it." Wang Daokun, hearing His Majesty's inquiry, answered this question concisely. Thatch has all kinds of disadvantages: leaking rain in summer, leaking wind in winter, repaired year after year. But the common people still use thatch, not only because thatch is cheap, but also because adobe houses, roof beams, and timber simply cannot support the weight of roof tiles.

Then use blue bricks. To use blue bricks, you have to deepen the foundation, and digging the foundation requires people, which is another expense.

Just looking at the roof tiles, they are naturally not expensive. If you add bricks and add digging the foundation, the construction cost is not something that poor people and laborers can afford.

"So that's it. Rich people build big houses, so they use bricks and tiles." Zhu Yijun understood the reason and solved the doubt in his heart.

The reason Zhu Yijun asked this was that Shen Yiguan, Viceroy of the Three Frontiers of Shaanxi, reported to the court to claim credit. In the Three Frontiers of Shaanxi, he dug 120 wells, with depths ranging from ten to thirty *zhang*, solving the predicament of 120 villages that had no water to drink for generations. In addition to digging wells, the main thing was to establish government factories, burning bricks, burning lime, refining steel and iron, dismantling all thatched huts within the city walls of the prefectural cities, and replacing them with brick and tile houses.

"Your Majesty, the Great Ming's post stations have achieved a turnaround from loss to profit. I believe that the business of acceptance and exchange should also be established in cities with a million people." Zeng Shengwu, Minister of War, reported another piece of good news. The post stations are finally no longer the court's negative assets, a money-losing business. And the key to turning the post stations from loss to profit is the acceptance bill.

The sprout of the Great Ming's acceptance and exchange business should be the civilian letter bureaus created by the Ningbo merchant group during the Yongle reign. This kind of business is also called a ticket shop, but it has all kinds of problems. After the Great Ming started this business in the joint meeting post stations in various places, Wang Jiaping entered the capital and requested to be under Wang Chonggu's gate, establishing acceptance and exchange in Guangzhou.

"I still remember a few years ago, the remonstrating officials were chattering endlessly, saying they wanted to abolish the post stations. Now, the lowly scholars can no longer attack the post station workers for losing money." Zhu Yijun said with a smile: "Very good. Follow the Ministry of War's words."

The Ministry of War's meaning is to push the acceptance and exchange business, which was successfully piloted in Songjiang Prefecture and then promoted in the five major maritime trade offices, to all cities with a million people in the Great Ming. This requires expanding the post stations.

According to the regulations of the first year of Hongwu, a post station was set up every 60 or 80 *li*. In actual execution, the density of post stations was actually far lower than this level. Even in the Liaodong Regional Military Commission during the Yongle reign, there were only thirty post stations in the vast territory.

In the early days of the dynasty, post stations actually had delivery offices and urgent delivery shops. Post stations mainly had three functions: post, delivery, and shop. But in the early years of the Longqing reign, delivery offices and urgent delivery shops were abolished on a large scale. Even if they were not abolished, they existed in name only, because they were really too expensive.

For example, an urgent delivery shop required ten shop soldiers per shop. Each soldier was given seven *taels* of silver for food. The overly expensive price made the Great Ming court unable to make ends meet, so they could only abolish them.

And now, the Great Ming wants to spread the acceptance and exchange business to all cities with a million people in the country, just to let the post stations survive first.

The Great Ming Emperor's anti-corruption campaign, with concubines as the entry point, has begun. This time it seems to be anti-corruption, but it is actually also a purge, because it is necessary to comprehensively strike at underground banks and prevent silver from flowing out. The Emperor's imperial decree spread in all directions with the sound of the post station horses' hooves on the highway. Cities with over a million inhabitants must conduct comprehensive investigations.

The Great Ming's cities with a million people were determined to be thirty-two in the last census. And the most important positions among these thirty-two cities are actually five: Mizhou, Songjiang Prefecture, Ningbo, Zhangzhou, and Guangzhou, where the five major maritime trade offices are located.

Among the five major maritime trade offices of the Great Ming, there is one maritime trade office with the most awkward status, and that is the Ningbo Maritime Trade Office. Because of the historical burdens of anti-Japanese heroes like Zhu Wan, Zhang Jing, and Li Tianchong who died after winning battles in Zhejiang, the Great Ming Emperor and the court are full of wariness toward the Ningbo Maritime Trade Office. The consequence is that various policies will not be implemented in Ningbo.

Up to now, the acceptance and exchange business of the Ningbo Maritime Trade Office's joint meeting post station is all handled by the Songjiang Prefecture joint meeting post station.

The Ningbo Maritime Trade Office is more about maintaining the status quo. This has also led to the fact that although the hydrological conditions of Shuangyu Port in the Ningbo Maritime Trade Office are not bad, its development scale and degree are not even as good as Jiaozhou Bay in Mizhou.

It's one thing that the court doesn't give policies, the key is that the Zhejiang ground itself is not striving.

During the Jiajing reign, in order to pacify the Japanese pirates, Viceroy Hu Zongxian recruited a large number of soldiers in Hangzhou. After the Japanese pirate trouble gradually ceased, a total of 45,000 Zhejiang soldiers were organized into nine battalions stationed in various parts of Zhejiang. Among them, two battalions were responsible for guarding Hangzhou City, and the other seven battalions were stationed in various places.

As the Japanese pirate trouble gradually ceased, these nine battalions are now mainly used for flood prevention, patrolling out in the third month of each year, and returning to the camp when the flood season gradually ends in the ninth month.

They are given nine *qian* of silver as monthly pay. Counting the patrol and flood prevention silver, they are given 12 *taels* of silver per year. This is a huge burden, but Zhejiang is wealthy and can afford it.

Since the third year of Wanli, the Great Ming began to cast Wanli Tongbao coins and roll-printed silver coins. In other parts of the Great Ming, one Wanli Tongbao coin can usually be exchanged for two or three old coins, because Wanli Tongbao is a real five-zhu coin, thick and exquisite. But in this place of Zhejiang, Wanli Tongbao cannot circulate.

Not only in the Ningbo Maritime Trade Office, Wanli Tongbao cannot buy any goods. In the whole of Zhejiang, it cannot be bought.

Wanli Tongbao is clearly a good currency, but in the Zhejiang ground, it can't buy anything.

"The situation is a bit bad." Wu Shanyan, the Zhejiang Governor and Censor-in-Chief, who was in the Hangzhou Prefectural Yamen, looked at the report in his hand, his face extremely heavy. He asked the private secretary with an ugly face: "Tell me, will there be a mutiny?"

"This... who can say." The private secretary also said with a nervous face. If you can't say, it means it's possible. As long as they take a little less, there won't be a mutiny.

There are 45,000 Zhejiang battalion soldiers, a total of nine battalions. Since the seventh year of Wanli, they began to issue new money, but the new money couldn't buy anything. The soldiers were full of complaints. This resentment has not been for a day or two. Now this resentment is finally about to erupt.

Zhejiang Governor Wu Shanyan has already felt that it is not good. The battalion soldiers who went out to patrol and prevent floods have returned to the camp. After this six-month patrol and flood prevention, after returning to the camp, various signs indicate that this resentment is about to be ignited.

"Not good, Governor, Governor! The Luomu Battalion has mutinied!" A gatekeeper ran in, rolling and crawling, pointing at the door outside with extreme horror: "Five thousand soldiers of the Luomu Battalion have arrived at Yongchang Gate! They are rushing toward the Prefectural Yamen!"

"Quick, go and see!" Wu Shanyan wished he could slap himself. He was really a crow's mouth. The more he worried about something, the more it came.

"Governor, this is a mutiny. Why don't you hide? If these soldiers get ruthless, I'm afraid it's dangerous!" The private secretary grabbed Wu Shanyan who was about to go out. This is a mutiny. If you don't hide far away, why are you rushing up?!

"It would be better if the battalion soldiers killed me. The court would give me a list for the Loyalty Shrine. If I run away now, it won't be long before His Majesty drags me to the vegetable market for execution! Go and see!" Wu Shanyan was able to climb to the position of Zhejiang Governor, he is not stupid. If he goes, there is a possibility of living; if he doesn't go, he will surely die. The Great Ming Emperor is not someone who can't pick up a knife.

Wu Shanyan rushed toward Yongchang Gate. He went fast, and Hangzhou Prefect Yan Shixuan went faster.

It was indeed a mutiny, but the situation had not deteriorated to the point of being unmanageable. A total of four battalion commanders were shirtless and self-bound, walking at the very front of all the battalion soldiers, with five thousand people in four columns following closely behind.

These soldiers carried weapons, but all weapons were wrapped in cloth and not exposed.

"Fortunately, fortunately." Yan Shixuan saw this scene and knew that there was still room for things. The soldiers did not want to do things to the extreme.

Yan Shixuan breathed hard a few times, cheered himself up, walked forward, and walked toward the mutinous battalion soldiers. He reached out and shouted loudly: "Everyone stop! I am Hangzhou Prefect Yan Shixuan!"

"Stop!" The four people at the head had all seen Yan Shixuan. This new prefect had actually done a few practical things. The battalion commanders reached out and ordered backward.

With the shouting one after another, the marching battalion soldiers stopped under Yongchang Gate. The whole process went smoothly, and no riots occurred.

"Battalion Commander Ma Wenying, Battalion Commander Yang Tingyong, Battalion Commander Zhang Wenyuan, Battalion Commander Yang Zhi, have met Prefect Yan." The four people who were shirtless and self-bound before the army reported their names one by one.

These four people were shirtless and had scars. The one with the most scars was Ma Wenying. A huge wound from his shoulder to his abdomen, like a centipede, lay on his body, appearing particularly ferocious. This was left by the Japanese pirates during the anti-Japanese war. Ma Wenying took such a blow back then to trade injury for injury and kill the Japanese pirate opposite.

Ma Wenying stepped forward and said loudly: "Coming here this time is just to ask for justice! I know that mutiny means death, but I just want to ask today, why reduce the pay! From the original nine *qian* of silver a month, reduced to three *qian* of silver!"

"Absolutely no such thing!" Yan Shixuan was anxious when he heard it. Reduce pay? He had never heard of it! He immediately said: "Nine *qian* of silver per month is the rule set at the beginning. The soldiers are hard-working in patrolling and preventing floods. Before returning to the camp, I personally went to the treasury to pick up military pay, water, and food, and checked them one by one. There is absolutely no mistake!"

"Hmm?" Ma Wenying frowned. He reached out and restrained the agitated soldiers behind him.

There is something in this.

"Private secretary!" Yan Shixuan shouted. He looked left and right, but there was no private secretary. The private secretary had disappeared without a trace at the first moment of the mutiny. People are all seeking advantages and avoiding disadvantages. Yan Shixuan is an official of the court and cannot run away. The private secretary can run.

"Come here, someone, go to the Prefectural Yamen and get the inspection documents!" Yan Shixuan looked at the yamen runners in the distance. The yamen runners were as cowardly as quails at this time and didn't dare to step forward at all. Yan Shixuan couldn't get away. If he left, the battalion soldiers would enter the city.

Governor Wu Shanyan happened to arrive and saw Yan Shixuan blocking the soldiers. He hurriedly asked the people around him to go to the Prefectural Yamen to get the inspection documents. Any money and grain must be signed by the three parties: the Governor, the Prefect, and the Warehouse Ambassador. This inspection document is in the Prefectural Yamen, in triplicate. Wu Shanyan himself has one copy.

Since Ma Wenying and others were self-bound, they were using their own lives to ask for justice for the brothers below. This is a mutiny, but if a mutiny is not handled well, it is a disaster.

Soon, the inspection documents were brought. Wu Shanyan held the three documents in his hand, hesitated for a moment, but made up his mind, walked forward, and handed the three documents to Ma Wenying and others for inspection.

"Confirmed correct, indeed no pay reduction!" After Ma Wenying, Yang Tingyong, Zhang Wenyuan, and Yang Zhi checked the documents, they confirmed that the amount out of the treasury was indeed nine *qian* of silver, but only three *qian* of silver reached the soldiers' hands.

Where did the six *qian* of silver in the middle go?

"Is there wine and meat to reward the soldiers?" Yan Shixuan asked with a frown.

When returning to the camp in the ninth month after patrolling and preventing floods, according to the system, each soldier should be given five *taels* of wine, eight *taels* of meat, and three *dou* of grain. This is a reward outside of military pay. Patrolling and preventing floods is hard work. From the third month to the ninth month, they are extremely busy. They need to reinforce the embankments and drain the water in the waterlogged areas. Most of the time they are working. The reward was also a rule set by Hu Zongxian and has been implemented all along.

"Even the pay was reduced. I haven't seen wine, meat, or grain." Ma Wenying answered Yan Shixuan's question. He had witnesses, five thousand witnesses.

"Everyone, listen to me, return to the camp for the time being. Ma Wenying, you take one thousand soldiers to the Prefectural Yamen. The six *qian* of silver owed will be paid by the Prefectural Yamen, and I will also make up the rewards." Yan Shixuan spoke very fast. He knew there was a problem, but the urgent task now was not to investigate the case, but to appease the soldiers.

The method of appeasement is for four thousand soldiers to return to the camp under the leadership of other battalion commanders, and the remaining one thousand soldiers to go to the Prefectural Yamen under the leadership of Ma Wenying to get military pay and rewards, solving the immediate difficulty first.

Ma Wenying and others discussed in a low voice. What they were arguing about was who would go to the Prefectural Yamen to collect the money. This is not a good job. The person who goes to the Prefectural Yamen to collect money will definitely be beheaded for public display, because this is the leader of the mutiny.

"I'll go." Ma Wenying pushed everyone away, looked at Yang Tingyong and said: "Please take care of my wife and children, brother."

The reason Yan Shixuan was willing to pay this money was, first, Hangzhou Prefecture had this money, and second, if he didn't give it, the soldiers could take it themselves. The five thousand soldiers of the Luomu Battalion were enough to take Hangzhou City, because the Luomu Battalion was originally the battalion soldier guarding Hangzhou City.

After Ma Wenying checked the silver and rewards and sent them to the Luomu Battalion, he returned to Yongchang Gate again and asked Yan Shixuan to arrest him.

Seeing Ma Wenying surrender, Yan Shixuan's anger dissipated. Only then did he realize that his hands and feet were cold, and he was a little dizzy. When he didn't pay attention, his official uniform was completely soaked with cold sweat. He looked at Zhejiang Governor Wu Shanyan fiercely, his mouth twitched, and he said sternly: "Wu Shanyan, it's fine if you take a little from other places, but you even take military pay?! Are you crazy?"

Dredging waterways, repairing bridges and roads, taking from these places is fine. Everyone in the Great Ming officialdom takes it. If you don't take it, you can't even get things done. But when the nine battalions return to the camp after patrolling and preventing floods, you dare to embezzle the pay. This is really tired of living.

"What nonsense are you talking about!" Wu Shanyan's relaxed expression, hearing Yan Shixuan's accusation, immediately shouted angrily: "It's not me! Stop talking nonsense!"

Wu Shanyan is a corrupt official. This is very clear to the whole of Zhejiang. In the Zhejiang ground, Wanli Tongbao cannot circulate, which has a great relationship with Wu Shanyan's indulgence.

The nine battalion soldiers received Wanli Tongbao, which is big money. These big coins couldn't buy goods in Zhejiang, but the nine battalion soldiers found a way out: buy goods from Songjiang Prefecture and transport them back to the nine battalions. Zhejiang couldn't buy goods, but Songjiang Prefecture could, and it wasn't far away. Because they bought a lot, the merchants even delivered the goods to the door, delivered to the pier along the Qiantang River.

Life will find its own way. Wanli Tongbao is the Great Ming's circulating currency. Holding money in hand, you will be exploited by merchants, but you can still live.

"You monopolized the business of the nine battalions. This doesn't count as me slandering you, right!" Yan Shixuan looked at Wu Shanyan and said: "Do you dare to swear to heaven that you didn't monopolize this business?"

The nine battalion soldiers needed to go to Songjiang Prefecture to buy goods to supply their daily needs, and this business was monopolized by Wu Shanyan. Yan Shixuan had only been there for a short time, but he already knew it clearly, and everyone in Zhejiang knew it.

"Don't slander people's innocence. I didn't. Talking nonsense without evidence is to be counter-charged for false accusation!" Wu Shanyan retorted with a red face.

"Swear then!" Yan Shixuan sneered and said: "You don't even dare to swear? The Master doesn't talk about strange powers and chaos, and we Confucian scholars are not afraid of heaven's punishment. Swear!"

Swearing in the Great Ming and talking nonsense, God might not strike him, but the Great Ming Emperor really will kill people. This is the reason why Wu Shanyan dare not swear, because he really will suffer retribution.

"Let's talk about serious things. Let's unify our caliber when reporting to the court. Just say it's a mutiny. This Ma Wenying wants to take all the responsibility. Just talk about it simply." Wu Shanyan's meaning is very clear. Everyone is an official in the court, so give each other convenience. When reporting to the court, report selectively and avoid the important.

Turn the matter into Ma Wenying being bold and reckless, and Wu Shanyan and Yan Shixuan being fearless and handling it properly.

This is actually the meaning of the Luomu Battalion. Otherwise, if the soldiers mutinied, they wouldn't let the battalion commanders bind themselves before the formation, and Ma Wenying wouldn't entrust his family to others.

"Do you think His Majesty is a ten-year-old child? It's useless for us to unify our caliber. Can you block the mouths of a million people in Hangzhou City? As long as His Majesty has a little suspicion and sends a secret guard to investigate, both of us will be guilty of deceiving the Emperor!" Yan Shixuan looked at Wu Shanyan in disbelief. Is this dragging him to die together?

Will His Majesty be suspicious? Definitely. His Majesty has always been wary of civil officials.

The battalion soldiers who were willing to patrol and prevent floods mutinied as soon as they returned to the camp. Just this matter, even a fool can see that there is a big problem inside!

"Report according to the facts, there is still a possibility of survival. Governor Wu, in the final analysis, this is just a matter of some silver. Even if the Censor-in-Chief Hai repeatedly catches corruption, you won't die for this little money." Yan Shixuan was really giving good advice. It's just an economic problem, it won't kill anyone. As long as it doesn't cause a bad influence, heads won't roll.

Yan Shixuan was also testing Wu Shanyan to see if Wu Shanyan had other problems besides economic problems.

"Yan Shixuan! Don't be ungrateful!" Wu Shanyan's face changed greatly, and he still didn't accept Yan Shixuan's suggestion.

Yan Shixuan understood. This Wu Shanyan is afraid that he has other problems. He said quite calmly: "It only takes three days from Songjiang Prefecture to Hangzhou City. The Great Ming navy has 100,000 strong soldiers and can arrive in just three days. Wu Shanyan, consider your nine clans. Don't act rashly, leading to eternal damnation." ===== CHAPTER 640 =====

Yan Shixuan understood clearly that this Wu Shanyan likely had other problems. He said quite calmly, "It only takes three days to get from Songjiang Prefecture to Hangzhou City. The Great Ming navy, with its one hundred thousand strong troops, can arrive in just three days. Wu Shanyan, for the sake of your nine generations, you must not act rashly and recklessly, lest you bring about your own total destruction."