Chapter 667: Having Six Ministries but No Emperor, Isn't That a Small Court?

The content discussed by Zhu Yijun and Li Yougong is called foreign chaos.

Both Zhu Yijun and Li Yougong have followed His Majesty the Emperor since they were young. They are more familiar with the terrain maps than the military generals. Their arithmetic is very good, and arithmetic is considered foreign learning in the Ming Dynasty, because the Ming Dynasty has translated many Western arithmetic works, strengthening the Ming Dynasty's deficiencies in arithmetic.

Before the Ming Emperor was determined to open the sea, the Ming Dynasty's understanding of the red-haired barbarians and golden-haired barbarians was no different from its understanding of the Japanese pirates, treating them as small barbarian countries from overseas running to the Ming Dynasty to beg for food.

Even the Portuguese envoy Huo Zhe Yasan became a favored minister of Emperor Wuzong as early as the Zhengde era. In the eyes of the Ming Dynasty's scholar-officials, Portugal and Japan were equivalent.

Foreign chaos and the Japanese pirate scourge seem to be threats from the ocean, but there are still huge differences.

Treating red-haired barbarians and golden-haired barbarians as a kind of Japanese pirate scourge is an ignorant cognition, because red-haired barbarians and golden-haired barbarians are simply too far away. Even for ocean-going trade of a commercial nature, it takes a year to make a round trip. With such a long journey, in the current lack of effective ocean-going deployment capabilities, the Ming Dynasty has no effective means to punish these red-haired barbarians.

The cost of conquest is simply too high, and it cannot be realized.

This means that these red-haired barbarians and golden-haired barbarians will commit crimes even more unscrupulously, becoming a trouble for the Ming Dynasty.

"It seems that this silver grows out of the soil of the New World. The colonial governors only need to use cheap slaves to mine silver from the mines to obtain sufficiently rich goods in the Ming Dynasty. But as a medium for storing value, how long can the West do this money-losing business?" Zhu Yijun looked at the list of goods sent by the Ministry of Revenue, his face heavy.

Are these Western barbarians really reconciled? In other places, they directly rob. In the Ming Dynasty, they have to do business normally. It would be strange if they were reconciled! And the Ming Dynasty earned all the silver, but they could only buy the Ming Dynasty's goods in the Ming Dynasty, and they couldn't rob them anywhere else.

Li Yougong agreed and said: "For the Ming Dynasty, the West is too far away, and it is the same for the West. In the short term, our Ming Dynasty does not need to worry too much about the problem of foreign chaos. But in the long run, foreign chaos will inevitably happen, driven by interests."

"Let them do business, they can't do it well, but let them burn, kill, and loot, they are very proficient."

Zhu Yijun thought for a moment and said: "To build a moat, at the very least, we must make these Western barbarians unable to enter the Strait of Malacca."

The Prince of Lu stood in front of the terrain map, pointed heavily at the location of the Strait of Malacca, and said: "It is time to truly implement the pioneering titles for the Thousand Islands of the Yuanxu Archipelago. For the Sun clan of Songjiang, the Chen clan of Jimo, the Zhang clan of Dianbai, etc., who meet the requirements, all give them third-class marquis titles."

This pioneering title has not been used since it was established.

For one thing, the five-year period originally agreed upon has not yet arrived. For another, the opposition in the court is very loud, because in the eyes of the ministers, this will lead to the proliferation of the Ming Dynasty's titles, which is selling official posts and titles like in the Han Dynasty. To cope with the opposition of the ministers, the system has also made some changes.

For example, the original plan was to have formal official titles like the Ming Dynasty's military honors, such as Earl of Yicheng, Marquis of Ningyuan, etc., but now it has become a way of distinguishing between first-class, second-class, and third-class.

But Zhu Yijun is very clear that the Ming Dynasty's military honors are military honors. In the hinterland, overseas, and in every corner of the world, they are the Ming Dynasty's hereditary military honors. But pioneering titles can only be used in the places they pioneer. In the Ming Dynasty's hinterland, their status is not recognized. This was made very clear at the beginning of the system's establishment.

It is actually a kind of application of the enfeoffment system. In places where the Ming Dynasty cannot reach, let the enfeoffed lords restrain and manage them.

"Your servant obeys the decree." Li Yougong was stunned, and then immediately bowed his head to accept the order.

Zhu Yijun has always been like this: do it first, and if it doesn't work, flip the pancake and pretend it never happened.

Taking advantage of His Majesty's absence, the Prince of Lu, who is making trouble, is presiding over the court, pushing through some controversial decrees to see the effect. Practice produces true knowledge.

Start first, and gradually summarize experience and lessons in the collision of contradictions.

At the beginning, when Yin Zhengmao went to Luzon, many people in the country said that it would inevitably become a major disaster for the Ming Dynasty's maritime territory in the future. But now Luzon is gradually becoming one of the Ming Dynasty's hinterlands, and even the land survey is done quite well. The speed of transformation is far beyond Suiyuan. To this day, the land survey in Suiyuan cannot be pushed because there are really too few people.

Zhu Yijun is not always making trouble, such as the public trials he organized, such as the pioneering titles he is now pushing through arrogantly.

"When the third son of Li Tianwang, the Pagoda-Bearing King, was born, there was a 'Na' character on his left palm and a 'Zha' character on his right palm, so he was named Nezha. This Nezha is a person who can never be framed by secular rules."

"Pah, do you really think the Imperial Brother is a figure like the Pagoda-Bearing King?" Zhu Yijun shook his head and said: "You have followed the Imperial Brother since you were ten, for twelve years, and you still don't understand the Imperial Brother. If I really went to sea to pull the dragon tendons of a flood dragon, the Imperial Brother would only help me press its head and tell me, pull it out completely, so we can make a Xuanyuan bow, and pull out its teeth to make Qiankun arrows."

"If someone really blames me, the Imperial Brother would only set fire to the four seas and eight wildernesses, fight up to the Heavenly Court, and ask the Jade Emperor why he is making things difficult for the two of us brothers."

Li Yougong is a subordinate. His perspective on the Emperor is looking up, so he can see some compromises in His Majesty's actions. But Zhu Yijun is a younger brother. He looks at the Emperor level-on, so he will reach completely different conclusions. It is just that the identity of the Emperor traps him.

If the sky falls, the Imperial Brother will hold it up!

"What Your Highness said is indeed reasonable." Li Yougong was stunned, and then immediately bowed his head and said. The matter is indeed so. Whenever Zhu Yijun gets into trouble, His Majesty always brings more people to the capital to prove that Zhu Yijun is just making trouble, like children playing house.

For real violence, you still have to look at the Emperor.

Zhu Yijun stood in front of the terrain map and said very confidently: "My brother and I actually don't like fighting, not at all."

"Because the soldiers most loyal to the country will die, followed by the brave soldiers, and finally the cunning, utilitarian, selfish soldiers who are still willing to fight for the people of the Ming Dynasty."

"These people can all be called great. These great people will die on the battlefield. When all the warriors who report to the Son of Heaven and save the common people leave us, what remains is ultimately just a contest between hypocrites and true villains."

"Hypocrites and true villains, no matter who wins, it is a disaster for the world."

"Therefore, we need to try every means to prevent war from happening in the Ming Dynasty's hinterland. In this way, as long as there are gentlemen in the world, the situation will not be so bad that it cannot be cleaned up."

"The Han Dynasty's rivers and mountains have loyal and good people in every generation, but it is heartbreaking generation after generation. In the end, there will be a day when dark clouds cover the sun."

Zhu Yijun is a top-tier meat-eater in the world, a hereditary Prince of the Ming Dynasty. What he least hopes for is the fall of the Ming Dynasty, because then he won't have a good life.

"I am different from His Majesty. I just want to win. I don't care what means are used to win." Zhu Yijun stated his attitude to Li Yougong very firmly. Winning is everything to him. As for whether the Ming Dynasty is good or not, he doesn't care.

It's not him sitting on the dragon chair. When he supervises the country, he brings a square stool himself. This is also a rule passed down since the Yongle era.

On the second day of the third month of the thirteenth year of Wanli, the Prince of Lu officially ordered the start of conferring titles for overseas titles.

When the decree for pioneering titles was pushed through, all the officials in the capital were silent and did not strongly oppose it. Now the officials have figured out the Prince of Lu's temper. This is an unreasonable master!

The Emperor is somewhat reasonable, but this Prince of Lu cannot listen to any opposing opinions at all. Now, the only hope for the officials is the Emperor who has been scolded by them for twelve years. They only hope that His Majesty can return soon. This Zhu Yijun's way of doing things is really very unruly.

After the criminals of the Yizhou opium den case entered the capital, after careful trial at the Northern Suppressing Commissioner's yamen, it was discovered why this opium den was so bold as to dare to open for business when the Ming Emperor was on a southern tour.

The opium den located in Huimin Ward of Yizhou had been established for more than three years. At first, the surrounding common people did not notice anything unusual, but later it became foul-smelling, and the nearby common people really couldn't stand it. Moreover, the smoke from the opium den made the surrounding common people feel weak all over, and they were as restless as if they had lice on their bodies.

Several families discussed it and went to the yamen to file a complaint. The Yizhou Magistrate Lei Shizhen sent yamen runners to investigate and told the common people that there was nothing unusual.

Originally, the matter should have ended here, but that night, the families who went to file the complaint suffered. There was a curfew in the city, but a group of petty people appeared openly and brazenly in Huimin Ward, smashed the houses, broke the legs of the complainants, and warned them to mind their own business less, otherwise they would kill their whole family.

These families were angry and didn't know what a gambling den was messing with to make such a big scene. A 50-year-old old man couldn't stand it anymore, took a knife and went out, never to return, and no one knew where he went.

Since then, no one dared to speak, and no one dared to talk about the opium den. This kind of thing happened more than once, so the common people could only pretend it didn't exist. This is also the reason why the opium den could do whatever it wanted. Even if you, the Emperor, are powerful and have eyes that reach the sky, if no one tells you, can you still see it?

Zhu Yijun finally finished approving the memorials. The four days of backlogged memorials were all sent to the Six Ministries and Yamen. This inefficiency made the officials somewhat uncomfortable, but the Ming Dynasty's court machine could still work normally.

Zhu Yijun, who walked out of Tonghe Palace, stretched hard and headed towards the Royal Academy of Sciences, because Uncle Zhu Zaiyu invited Zhu Yijun to go, because there were important things to do.

The Ming Dynasty's 48-horsepower steam engine, Shengping No. 4, was successfully tested, and the Xishan Coal Bureau production workshop was also under construction. It is expected to be completed before the end of the year, and the annual production of more than 3,000 Shengping No. 4 units will inject new vitality into the Ming Dynasty's basic economy.

"Isn't it that arithmetic has already developed to this point now?" Zhu Yijun stood in the Sutra Collection Pavilion, looking at the works in the arithmetic compartment, dumbfounded.

Because of the Emperor's request, Zhu Yijun's arithmetic was not bad, but the arithmetic he learned was addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, basic geometry, positive and negative numbers, and decimals. Since Li Kaifang became a Doctor of the Five Classics and came up with things like number axes, arithmetic seemed to have opened the door to another world. Now there are many data plotting, variables, equations, functions, images, etc.

These things made Zhu Yijun call them miraculous, especially the trigonometric function images drawn at the main entrance, which made Zhu Yijun look for a long, long time.

"Always learn and always be new." Xiong Tingbi looked at these arithmetic works he didn't recognize at all and had a headache. These things looked difficult, and in fact, they were indeed not simple.

"Hahaha, Xiong Da still has to take the imperial examination, but I don't! You still have to learn these things, it's really lucky!" Zhu Yijun said triumphantly with his hands on his hips. Watching Xiong Da have bad luck was also one of Zhu Yijun's pleasures.

The size of the 48-horsepower steam engine was even smaller than the previous Shengping No. 3. Zhu Yijun circled around this iron horse three times to the left and three times to the right, asking questions with great interest for a long time before he was still not satisfied.

"Your Highness, the reason why you were invited this time, besides confirming the successful test of this Shengping No. 4, there is another thing." Zhu Zaiyu said with his hands folded: "For this matter, let Doctor Wei say it."

Wei Youshan, the inventor of Ming Dynasty liquid fertilizer, because of liquid fertilizer, he also received the Chonggu Award. Now he is a Doctor of the Five Classics at the Ming Dynasty Royal Academy of Sciences, specifically researching fertilizers. The process improvement of liquid fertilizer was all led by Wei Youshan.

"The production of liquid fertilizer in the 12th year of Wanli can benefit about 6 million mu of land, which is 60,000 qing. It has basically covered all the cultivated land in the Shuntian Prefecture area." Wei Youshan said somewhat nervously: "Liquid fertilizer and compost seem to have no difference. At least we haven't found any disadvantages yet."

"Does Your Highness farm?"

Wei Youshan was not nervous when facing the Emperor, but he didn't know where to start when facing the Prince of Lu, because His Highness the Prince of Lu did not farm.

"I don't know how to farm, and I have followed the Imperial Brother to the fields, but it was just playing with my nephew. I have never farmed seriously, unlike the Imperial Brother." Zhu Yijun clearly told the Doctor of the Five Classics that he, a natural noble, really didn't know how to farm.

Among all the civil and military officials, there were not many who could chat with His Majesty about farming.

Wei Youshan was silent for a moment before saying: "I am from Fengxiang, Shaanxi. There was a rich man named Li in our place who had 10,000 mu of fertile land. When he went out to visit relatives and friends, he would pick up the broken straw sandals on the road, put them on the roof to smoke, and after smoking a thick layer of soot in the woodshed, the broken straw sandals would soften and could be thrown into the compost pit for composting."

"It's not that this Squire Li is poor; on the contrary, he is very rich. It's not that he is stingy, he is simply lacking fertilizer."

Zhu Yijun's eyes lit up and he immediately said: "Ah, so piling up these broken straw sandals and the like is for composting. I have seen the Imperial Brother do this. So it was for fertilizer!"

He could understand Squire Li's behavior and didn't even think Wei Youshan was making up a story, because Zhu Yijun had really seen it, and he was strange at that time. The Imperial Brother piled up those broken straw sandals and broken rags there, and they disappeared after a while. So they were all taken for composting and turning into manure.

Zhu Yijun was somewhat panicked. He was just quick-mouthed and told the Emperor's business. He was really not spreading rumors for the Imperial Brother. The Imperial Brother had really done it, and more than once.

"The Imperial Brother always says: A crop is a flower, all depending on the fertilizer as the master." Zhu Yijun didn't like farm work, so he just remembered a rough idea.

The process of composting and rotting is actually not killing bacteria, but turning organic matter into inorganic matter. Organic matter piled directly underground will lead to bacterial reproduction, heat generation, and burning seedlings. Moreover, these organic matter cannot be absorbed by the roots of plants.

Zhu Yijun has always been like this. He doesn't remember things he is not interested in very clearly, so there will be such a misunderstanding.

Wei Youshan continued: "After pulling the radishes, the season enters the cold winter. During this time, when the weather is clear, people will go to the fields to burn ash, which is to put straw, branches, shrubs, weeds, etc., into a cone-shaped earth stove, light a fire at the bottom, and after the flames pass, these things like straw will crackle."

"Usually, people choose pine or fir trees, because these two have a lot of oil. This is what the common people often call 'stewing smoke'."

"Burn one pile, then burn another. In winter, the fields are full of these piles. During spring plowing, a dustpan of ash plus half a shovel of compost is the best fertilizer."

Pan Jixun said that the land reclamation in Suiyuan was a bit reckless, and it was all burning mountains directly. This is naturally a manifestation of eagerness for quick success and instant benefits, and it is also to burn ash.

"So the ash mixed into the compost came from this." Zhu Yijun suddenly realized. Every year when the Emperor went to spring plowing, he would do this. At that time, Zhu Yijun was strange. What exactly was added in it?

Now he finally understands that ash is also fertilizer.

Zhu Yijun had told his younger brother more than once, but Zhu Yijun really didn't like these, and later he was too lazy to tell him.

"We found a substitute for burning ash." Wei Youshan looked at Zhu Yijun and said the recent discovery of the Royal Academy of Sciences, and took out a small box the size of a palm, saying: "This is mineral salt from the Western Regions. It can replace burning ash and be added to liquid fertilizer."

"What is this?" Zhu Yijun asked curiously.

Wei Youshan shook his head and said: "I don't know. We Doctors of the Five Classics also know that it is so, but don't know why it is so. But the test results show that its effect is the same as what is burned from ash."

"This thing is called Jingjue Salt. It was brought to Jiayu Pass by Western Regions merchants to sell, but no one wanted it. This kind of salt that will poison you if you eat it."

Jingjue Salt is sold as salt, but buyers soon found that it couldn't be eaten at all and it became unsalable. The reason it is called Jingjue Salt is because Western Regions merchants said it was produced in the ancient Jingjue country of the Western Regions, but in fact, the ancient Jingjue country had long since perished.

In fact, these Jingjue Salts all come from Salt Lake, and Salt Lake is a saltwater lake in the Western Regions.

The Royal Academy of Sciences is always criticized for wasting the inner treasury and the national treasury, because the things researched by the Doctors of the Five Classics of the Academy are always strange. All kinds of things will be transported to the Academy through the Ming Dynasty's administrative system for research, and most of them have no results. The fact is also true. The research of the Doctors of the Five Classics is indeed strange.

But it was this strangeness that allowed Wei Youshan to find a substitute for burning ash again, right in the Western Regions.

"It only needs simple processing to be added directly to liquid fertilizer. It is much easier to use than burning ash." Wei Youshan was somewhat helpless. Zhu Yijun, a natural noble, didn't understand this, and the Emperor was not there, which made Wei Youshan scratch his head.

Burning ash sounds fun, but it is actually very tiring. Outdoor activities in winter are the most tiring, and the soil is hard and difficult to work with. Moreover, a part of the most important firewood has to be burned. Firewood is the lifeline, especially in the freezing winter in the north.

Processing is actually very simple, which is water-dissolving heating, cooling to a certain temperature for crystallization, fishing out the crystals, washing and drying, and repeating this, you can get the Jingjue Salt in Wei Youshan's hands. Whatever it is, it can be used.

"I can't fully understand its importance." Zhu Yijun rubbed that bit of Jingjue Salt and said quite definitely: "Who told me that I am not diligent in my limbs? I can't understand your anxiety, and I don't understand the hardship of the common people for burning ash. After all, I don't have to burn ash."

"But I understood one thing. This thing of yours is a mineral, right?"

"It is a mineral." Wei Youshan thought for a while and agreed with the definition of His Highness the Prince of Lu. It is indeed a kind of mineral.

"If it's a mineral, then there's no problem. Whatever it is, occupy it first!" Zhu Yijun couldn't empathize with the significance of this thing at all. He changed to a way of speaking that everyone could understand. The Western Regions have minerals needed by the Ming Dynasty. Changing to this way of speaking, Zhu Yijun felt that he understood its importance.

Zhu Yijun couldn't distinguish between iron ore, copper ore, silver ore, and gold ore at all. In his view, they were all stones. But it was these stones that turned stones into gold and became important resources for the Ming Dynasty. Then it was much easier to handle. If it's a mineral, it must be occupied!

Useful or not, occupy it first.

"Understood." Zhu Yijun immediately understood. The Western Regions and the Indochina Peninsula have minerals needed by the Ming Dynasty. This was settled. The rich silver mountains were occupied by Western barbarians. To this day, the Ming Dynasty cannot reach them.

The mineral veins are close at hand. If we don't occupy them, are we waiting for the red-haired barbarians of the West to occupy them?

Mineral veins will really attract the Ming army.

Zhu Yijun soon wrote the fact that the Western Regions' Salt Lake and Laos have minerals needed by the Ming Dynasty into a memorial and sent it to the Emperor on a southern tour.

After the Ming Emperor Zhu Yijun received the memorial, he immediately summoned Zhang Juzheng and Wang Chonggu.

"I farm, so I naturally know the hardship of farming. This burning ash looks fun, but going outdoors in winter is a huge burden for the common people. Cotton clothes, cotton jackets, and cotton shoes are all consumables, and more food is needed. If this Jingjue Salt is really as magical as the Academy of Sciences says, it must be in the hands of the Ming Dynasty." Zhu Yijun first set a tone for this matter.

Zhu Yijun understands what the thing called Jingjue Salt by the Doctors of the Five Classics is. It is actually natural potash salt ore. The plant ash burned is mainly potassium carbonate, while natural potash salt ore is potassium chloride.

The Western Regions have it, and Laos indeed has it. Moreover, the production of this thing is not complicated. It is a typical dissolution crystallization method, heating and cooling, adding water and salt, cycling repeatedly. If the purity is not enough, it can be crystallized multiple times, mainly controlling the temperature.

Wang Chonggu thought for a moment and said: "I know Wei Youshan very well. He is quite timid and would never dare to deceive the Emperor. After all, he is from a poor background and likes to study strange skills. If it weren't for the Academy of Sciences, the things he tinkered with would be difficult to enter the elegant hall. Even tinkering with these is neglecting his proper job."

The person who likes to neglect his proper job most in the Ming Dynasty is the Ming Emperor himself. The proper job of Confucian scholars is really ignored by His Majesty. He just likes these strange auspicious signs.

"Then, build the post road to Jiayu Pass, and also find a way to build it to Salt Lake. And Laos, we must find a way. At the very least, this mineral must be in the hands of the Ming Dynasty, so that I can sleep peacefully." Zhu Yijun made a summary.

The Ming Dynasty does not need to obtain Jingjue Salt through conquest. The Laos Pacification Commission is eager for the Ming Dynasty to look at it. As long as they look at it more, they can survive in the cracks.

Zhang Juzheng spoke very tactfully. He said bullying, but that is not bullying, that is aggression, slaughter, rivers of blood, and squeezing the marrow.

Nothing is more important than living.

For the Laos Pacification Commission, this is a great blessing that has fallen from the sky. Once the mineral mountain really has the Ming army stationed, Annam, Siam, and Taungoo will at most bark twice. The evil deeds of wantonly occupying territory and slaughtering citizens will be gone forever. ===== CHAPTER 668 =====

That is to say, if anyone dares to engage in levirate marriage, half of all their property will be distributed to the whistleblower to encourage reporting.

It became even more illegal in the Great Ming. In the sixth year of Hongwu, the Great Ming Code explicitly stipulated: if a brother dies and his brother takes his widow, or if a younger brother dies and his elder brother takes his wife, both shall be strangled; they would be executed directly.

The fact that Great Ming officials from top to bottom could make such a ruling, and that not a single person corrected the error, is actually one of the biggest problems of the early Hongwu years: the non-recognition of the Great Ming regime and the recognition of the loose rule of the Yuan Dynasty. Zhu Yuanzhang managed things too broadly and too much; the Yuan emperors managed nothing at all.

This was a kind of defiant sentiment at work. Of course, the defiance of the officials above and below failed, because even according to the laws of the Yuan Dynasty, it was not legal.

This evil custom of levirate marriage brought from the grasslands was thoroughly abolished after the eighteenth year of Hongwu, precisely because so many people were killed.

When a problem cannot be solved, one can look to the *Great Warnings* of the ancestral laws, which contain many brutal but direct ways to solve problems.

Wherever the Emperor traveled, there was blood and carnage.