Chapter 705: The Holy Son of Heaven Returns to the Capital, the Ziwei Star Returns to its Proper Place

The Southern Inspection of the Great Ming Emperor Zhu Yijun stirred up a bloody storm. Starting from the Zhang clan of Hejian in Tianjin Guard and ending with the bank run in Songjiang Prefecture, along this entire journey, Zhu Yijun, this true Emperor, shattered countless local "earth emperors." He physically carried out a redistribution of the means of production and wealth, dismantled the Southern Yamen, built two post roads and canals in Zhejiang, and conducted a large-scale dredging of silver.

The only thing the Great Ming Emperor was dissatisfied with regarding this Southern Inspection was that those fellows in Liaodong merely engaged in empty talk and did not actually stake everything on a single throw to fight the Great Ming, causing Li Chengliang's schemes to fall through.

An anti-Ming offensive and defensive alliance could be established, but the problem was who would go up and strike the first blow. Everyone knew that Li Chengliang had left and the Great Ming Emperor was on a Southern Inspection, leaving the Capital Battalion unable to move; the Liaodong military formation would inevitably suffer tremors. Yet, Korea, the Jianzhou Jurchens, the Haixi Jurchens, the Wild Jurchens, and the various Outer Khalkha tribes all hoped that the other side would go first.

As a result, this dragging on lasted until the Great Ming Emperor was about to return to the capital. Liaodong still hadn't started fighting, and the plan to achieve everything in one battle fell through.

In fact, these people uniting to form an anti-Ming offensive and defensive alliance was actually just so that the Great Ming Dynasty would once again make tribute trade unrestricted. Previously, there were not a few who hitched a ride on Korea's tribute. Korea had been plucking the Great Ming's wool for two hundred years, and now that the Great Ming suddenly wouldn't allow it, they were somewhat unhappy, hence this offensive and defensive alliance, attempting to increase the pressure on the Great Ming.

However, this so-called unbreakable alliance was neither unbreakable nor an alliance.

In Wang Rulong's memorial, these various Outer Khalkha tribes were very willing to be the Great Ming's dogs, willing to be the moles. As long as the Great Ming did not close the Womagang border market to the various Outer Khalkha tribes, they would always be willing, even willing to have Great Ming tax officials go to the vast Mobei to collect taxes. If the Great Ming found it troublesome, the Emperor could designate tax officials to collect them—that is, a tax farming system.

After attending the fleet review, the Great Ming Emperor did not set off immediately. Instead, he conducted another inspection at the Songjiang Prefecture shipyard, carrying out a very serious and comprehensive investigation of the docks producing fast sailing ships, and communicated deeply with the shipyard's general manager regarding the difficulties the shipyard faced during its development process.

The Great Ming Emperor, still feeling unsatisfied, finally began his journey back to the capital in the golden autumn of the ninth month. Because he would no longer be inspecting along the way, the entire journey back to the capital would only take one month.

When Zhu Yijun's carriage passed through Xuzhou, he specifically stopped for three days. The Great Ming Emperor, accompanied by civil and military officials, specifically went to the coal kilns in Xuzhou. Zhu Yijun could not understand why even southern Shandong could rely on coal mining and canals to build up the coal industry and make a fortune, and Xuzhou also had many coal mines, so why did the Xuzhou local government still have to subsidize it?

Zhu Yijun went to three places: Zhengzhuang, Huzhuang, and Tuntou coal mines. Although the kiln workers in these places were still very miserable, they could finally receive the labor compensation they deserved, and new official residences were being built. Furthermore, the owners of these kiln wells were finally no longer merchants from Yangzhou or Suzhou, but were under the dual management of the Great Ming Ministry of Works and local government offices.

People, wealth, and materials were under the management of the Xuzhou local government, but production, safety, technology, and supporting facilities were all under the management of the Great Ming Ministry of Works' Xishan Coal Bureau.

"I am initially satisfied with this result, but not particularly satisfied," Zhu Yijun said to the accompanying officials after inspecting the mines. He had won, but it was not a complete victory.

Zhu Yijun was a person who cared very much about winning and losing. He only wanted to win. Without a doubt, in this battle of the Southern Inspection, the strong dragon pressed hard against the local snakes, and Zhu Yijun won a complete victory. But in Zhu Yijun's view, the war between the strong dragon and the local snakes was far from over.

Zhu Yijun left Xuzhou and continued north. In an era when carriages and horses were slow, the news of the Emperor returning to the capital made everyone breathe a sigh of relief. The Northern Yamen hoped for the Emperor's return because Prince Lu was truly too unreliable, while the Southern Yamen hoped the Emperor would leave quickly and never return again; killing heads every day was too terrifying.

The most excited was undoubtedly the Great Ming Northern Yamen's caretaker, Zhu Yiliu. When he heard that the Emperor had set off from Xuzhou again to head north, he jumped three feet high, excitedly ran around the pillars of the Zhao Wenhua Hall several times, and then stood in front of the Zhao Wenhua Hall's gate, saying to Li Yougong with extreme excitement: "Issue the order, no morning court from tomorrow on, everything will be handled after the Imperial Brother returns to the capital!"

"Your Highness, if the court is delayed for one day, the localities will be delayed for ten days. The post relay has limited dates, and if the memorials are not approved, the localities have no way to handle affairs." Li Yougong became anxious immediately. Efficient administrative efficiency was one of the pillars ensuring the stable operation of the empire; how could one be so lazy?

"What does that have to do with me?" Zhu Yiliu sneered and said.

This was the most unreliable thing about Prince Lu—he didn't like to "turn the millstone." In his view, court discussions, morning courts, approving memorials, handling state affairs, and drilling troops were all "turning the millstone." Having grown up following his Imperial Brother, he could handle these miscellaneous affairs very well, but precisely because he had this ability, he was so disgusted by it.

If he couldn't understand it and was fooled, that would be one thing, but to clearly understand it and still have to suffer this, that was the most uncomfortable part.

"Your Highness!" Li Yougong's mouth twitched. Zhu Yiliu was a bit too irresponsible.

In fact, Li Yougong knew very well that this was the appearance of a born noble. Sometimes, it was truly a lack of ability, and sometimes, even with the ability, one was too lazy to care or handle it. In any case, disasters were hard to spread to the head of such a noble.

His Majesty, such a born noble, was the anomaly.

"Eunuch Li, stop the morning court starting tomorrow." Zhu Yiliu flicked his sleeves and said loudly: "I'm not doing it! Even if you talk until the sky breaks, I'm not doing it! This is simply not a life for a human! Do you know how I've spent these seven months!"

These seven months, Zhu Yiliu had to wake up at the fourth watch every day, then, with a belly full of morning grumpiness, go to the Zhao Wenhua Hall to listen to a group of old foxes saying things they didn't mean. All kinds of miscellaneous affairs were all struggles of power and interest, intertwined, all deceitful, exhausting his mind to come up with a result that everyone could accept. Then, when it came time to implement it, there were countless difficulties, and after implementation, there were a pile of contradictions that were hard to solve or had never appeared before that needed to be resolved.

The court discussion would last for two hours, with only a quarter-hour break in the middle. This double torture of spirit and body was one thing, but when it ended, after eating, he had to go to the Northern Camp to drill troops. Zhu Yiliu's martial arts barely reached the level of a sharp soldier of the Capital Battalion, and drilling troops would take another hour and a half. When that ended, returning to the Tonghe Palace, he had to meet various officials harboring ulterior motives. By the time the lamps were lit, he would start approving memorials.

Finishing all this, the moon was already hanging over the willow branches. Having been busy all day, he had to rest immediately, otherwise, the next day's court discussion would leave him dizzy.

These seven months were the seven months with the most regular schedule in Zhu Yiliu's life. He hadn't worked as hard in his whole life as he had in these seven months.

"It's like drilling into a mine tunnel that never ends, a mine tunnel without a single bit of light! I've had enough! Tell the court officials that Prince Lu has heart disease. Seven months, I haven't even seen the face of a beauty from ten thousand nations!" Zhu Yiliu's resentment was very, very great. He looked at Li Yougong and said loudly: "Let the Imperial Brother punish me severely, it's best to lock me in the Prince Lu Mansion and never let me come out again!"

"Anyway, the Imperial Brother can handle it!"

Li Yougong was helpless. After several months of getting along, he discovered that Prince Lu was actually not that useless. Being so lazy was actually for one reason: Prince Lu had made it very clear that even if the sky was poked through, His Majesty could handle it.

Prince Lu didn't have to carry the four words "state and society," which was why he was slack.

With the Imperial Brother holding things up, Prince Lu only needed to enjoy the power and didn't need to fulfill any obligations.

This kind of disease of lacking responsibility was actually easy to cure. If His Majesty truly died on the road of the Southern Inspection and this responsibility had to be shouldered by Prince Lu, he wouldn't be able to be willful anymore.

"Will it work! Stop the morning court starting tomorrow, will it work!" Zhu Yiliu asked loudly.

"It will." Li Yougong answered helplessly. His Majesty had said that Prince Lu was like a donkey—you had to stroke his fur to coax him.

"Hahaha! Beauties of ten thousand nations, I'm coming!" Zhu Yiliu ran away in a flash. He didn't have the slightest bit of nostalgia for the Zhao Wenhua Hall, and even the approvals on the memorials were only half-written.

The Emperor was coming back, and he wouldn't write a single extra word.

On the 27th day of the ninth month of the 13th year of Wanli, the Great Ming Emperor Zhu Yijun returned to the loyal Shuntian Prefecture and stayed in Tongzhou.

"Let the Directorate of Ceremonial send the memorials over." Zhu Yijun stretched his back.

The next Southern Inspection would be around the 16th year of Wanli. This was something the Cabinet ministers had determined on the road back to the capital. The necessity of regular Southern Inspections went without saying; every Southern Inspection had to verify the results of the previous one while solving new contradictions.

"Your Majesty, I'm afraid there are quite a lot." Feng Bao said in a low voice: "There are three carts."

"Isn't the unit of measurement for memorials a 'volume'? How come... it's counted by carts?" Zhu Yijun's stretch was only halfway done, and he asked Feng Bao in a daze. Describing the unit of measurement for memorials in carts was like a donkey in a mill seeing a mountain of grain that needed to be ground.

"When Your Majesty set off from Xuzhou, Prince Lu returned to the Prince Lu Mansion and refused to come out, which is why so many were left over." Feng Bao explained the key to the problem.

"This child, forget it, bring the memorials over, bring one cart first." Zhu Yijun knew his own speed in handling memorials. During the one day he was staying in Tongzhou, he could handle at most one cart.

Zhu Yijun was going to stay in Tongzhou for one day. Prince Lu would come to Tongzhou to welcome him, Li Rusong would hand over the seal of the Capital Battalion Regional Commander to the Emperor, and then the Emperor would hand the seal to Qi Jiguang. After the military and political handover, the remaining Ministry officials would all come to Tongzhou to hand over the Ministry affairs back to the Ministers.

After the cumbersome handover, the Great Ming Emperor would issue an imperial edict—not a general amnesty for the world, but to correct some of Prince Lu's unreasonable decrees, such as releasing the 327 Grand Secretaries, Ministry officials, and literati imprisoned by Prince Lu.

The reason Prince Lu simply threw in the towel was also here: whether he did well or poorly, when the Imperial Brother returned to the capital, he would issue an edict to reprimand him. This was the convention. For a Prince to do better than the Emperor—what kind of decorum was that?

"The thirty-six beauties of ten thousand nations brought from the Southern Yamen, send them all to the Prince Lu Mansion. Also, the various ship models sent by the Songjiang Shipyard, a total of twenty-eight types, send him a set of all of them. That should be enough for him to play with for several months." Zhu Yijun handled the memorials at hand and instructed Feng Bao to send the "souvenirs" to Prince Lu.

He had worked hard for seven months, and after all the busyness, he was bound to be scolded, so there had to be substantial rewards. This batch of specifically collected beauties of ten thousand nations was the substantial reward for Prince Lu.

Prince Lu didn't lack anything; he just liked these beauties of ten thousand nations.

The Songjiang Shipyard had built a whole set of models, and Zhu Yijun brought a complete set for Prince Lu, saving Prince Lu from constantly thinking about his figure wall in the side hall of the Zhao Wenhua Hall; he would just give him one directly.

"Your Majesty, the Master, in his capacity as the Senior Grand Secretary, has rejected Your Majesty's imperial edict." Feng Bao carefully took out the imperial edict; the edict sent down to the Cabinet had been sent back.

"Ah? What is the reason for the Cabinet rejecting My imperial edict?" Zhu Yijun was full of question marks. This was a consensus formed on the road back.

"The Master's meaning is that the 'opinion-mongers' imprisoned by Prince Lu should be killed in a batch, imprisoned in a batch, sent to the Xishan Coal Bureau for labor in a batch, and exiled in a batch. They must be killed; they cannot just be released so simply." Feng Bao said in a low voice.

Zhang Juzheng felt that the Emperor was too benevolent. Although Zhu Yiliu was unreliable, he had exhausted all his efforts in protecting his Imperial Brother from the "opinion-mongers." None of these imprisoned people were innocent.

Since Zhang Juzheng went into mourning for his parents in the 5th year of Wanli and the Emperor gradually grasped power, Zhang Juzheng had rarely exercised the power of rejecting imperial edicts. This time, the Cabinet reached a consensus: they could not be released.

"What is the reason for killing them? Before the Southern Inspection, the Master urged Me to follow the path of benevolence and forgiveness every day, until My ears were calloused." Zhu Yijun looked at the floating slip on the imperial edict. After reading it, he still couldn't understand why Zhang Juzheng, who had always advocated for an open path for opinions and urged benevolence and forgiveness, had suddenly changed his stance and started calling for the killing of "opinion-mongers."

"It's still because of that Lin Fucheng affair. The Master feels that Prince Lu did the right thing." Feng Bao said very affirmatively: "The reason for killing them is very simple: they are all just rebels. It saves them from talking nonsense and fabricating things afterwards."

In order not to let these people rewrite history and keep chanting about these sufferings in the days to come, Zhang Juzheng's solution was: kill, kill them clean. Without the years, there would be no history of the years.

Without a doubt, this was a good way to solve the problem.

"The Master is a bit like a bird startled by the mere twang of a bowstring. Release them." After Zhu Yijun figured out Zhang Juzheng's thoughts, he smiled and said: "I am fine, the Master is worrying too much."

Zhang Juzheng was not afraid of anything, except for the Emperor learning from the "Daoist Master" and having his fighting spirit exhausted by cruel political struggles. Never mind the New Policies, the Great Ming would fall apart. Especially when Zhang Juzheng saw the fleeting twilight in the Emperor's expression, he became violent.

"Your servant obeys the edict." Feng Bao could only accept the order.

Feng Bao personally sent the imperial edict to the Cabinet and reiterated His Majesty's stance, but Zhang Juzheng, very rarely, rejected the Emperor's imperial edict again, with a very firm attitude. Wang Chonggu slipped away directly, using the excuse of having miscellaneous affairs to handle at the Xishan Coal Bureau and the two woolen mills, and ran to the Xishan Coal Bureau. Wan Shihe and Wang Guoguang both agreed with Zhang Juzheng's resolution.

"Then don't release them for now. Wait until I finish approving the memorials, then we will have a court discussion to study it." Zhu Yijun looked at the rejected memorial again and did not forcefully push it through.

The Cabinet's attitude was so firm, clearly they had their own reasons. Zhu Yijun was also very busy; he would just study it after he finished this wave of work.

"Your Majesty, Prince Lu has arrived." A small eunuch ran in hurriedly, bowed his head, and said.

"Proclaim him."

According to the system, Prince Lu should only arrive tomorrow, but Prince Lu was a person who never played by the rules. So, after the news of the Emperor staying in Tongzhou reached the capital, Prince Lu rushed to Tongzhou in a hurry. He didn't want to be the caretaker for even a moment longer!

"Paying respects to the Imperial Brother, may the Imperial Brother be well!" Zhu Yiliu knelt as soon as he entered, directly holding the caretaker's seal in his hands, and shouted loudly: "Imperial Brother, your younger brother has not failed the mission, I have not caused any trouble for Your Majesty. Now that Your Majesty has returned to the capital, your younger brother returns the caretaker's seal."

"Exempt from the ritual, you treasure. Look at how many memorials you left for Me!" Zhu Yijun looked at Prince Lu, who was like a treasure, and couldn't do anything to him. Confinement would only fulfill his wishes, and as for heavier punishments, Empress Dowager Li was still there, so it was impossible. Moreover, Prince Lu had truly done quite well.

"Doesn't this show that I am absurd and the Imperial Brother is capable?" Zhu Yiliu put on a "dead pig isn't afraid of boiling water" look and answered shamelessly.

Zhu Yijun asked with a smile: "Imperial Uncle, did you know I was back?"

"I knew, but I estimate that the Imperial Uncle didn't even notice he had an extra seal of regency." Zhu Yiliu said helplessly: "Imperial Brother, you can't say I don't love working. The Imperial Uncle is even lazier than me. Only once, when the Japanese pirates coveted our dynasty's water and fertilizer, did the Imperial Uncle attend the public trial. After that, the Imperial Uncle never appeared again."

The number one in neglecting government was not Zhu Yiliu. Zhu Yiliu at least handled miscellaneous affairs. That true regent, Zhu Zaiyu, had four words for state affairs: ignore and disregard.

Zhu Yiliu suspected that Zhu Zaiyu would only take another look when the Northern Barbarians reached the city walls, mainly because he was afraid that the flames of war would ruin his research.

"Alright, stop talking nonsense here. Return the seal and go back. I still have a cart of memorials waiting to be approved! Zhu Yiliu, after I finish this cart, I still have two more!" Zhu Yijun felt a headache just thinking about the memorials measured in carts. If he had a choice, he wouldn't want to work either.

Zhu Yijun looked at the mountain of memorials and felt a headache, starting to "turn the millstone."

Prince De Zhu Zaiyu did not forget that this was the day His Majesty returned to the capital. Even if he forgot, there would be people to remind him. The Great Ming Royal Academy of Things also had administrative personnel. Prince De led the civil and military officials to Tongzhou to return the regency seal, representing that the political power was handed back to His Majesty. Li Rusong handed the Zhenwu General seal back to His Majesty, representing that the military power had returned to His Majesty's hands.

On the 29th day of the ninth month, the Great Ming Emperor's carriage entered the Tonghe Palace. Thus, the Southern Inspection completely ended. The Secretariat wrote in the Wanli Daily Life Record: The Holy Son of Heaven returns to the capital, the Ziwei Star returns to its proper place.

Since ancient times, the Emperor leaving the center was a very dangerous thing. The Ziwei Star returning to its proper place represented that the Great Ming court had returned to its former peace.

What made the officials ecstatic was that after several months of vacation, the Great Ming Emperor was not slack, remaining as efficient as ever, handling all the miscellaneous memorials that Prince Lu had accumulated in just three days.

Zhu Yijun finished approving the memorials and leaned back in his chair, feeling lifeless. These three carts of memorials were truly exhausting. He took out the set of seals left for Prince Lu before he could quickly finish handling the accumulated state affairs.

"To release or not to release, it's a bit troublesome now." Zhu Yijun leaned back in his chair, looking at a memorial in which Zhang Juzheng spoke eloquently, feeling a great headache.

The content of the court discussions over these three days, besides miscellaneous court affairs, was the biggest problem: whether the criminals imprisoned by Prince Lu should be released without guilt. And this problem was almost unsolvable, because everyone was doing it for the good of the Great Ming, so why should they listen to you?

Led by the Emperor, the court officials remaining in the capital, Zeng Shenwu, Shen Li, Lu Guangzu, and others, believed that they should release the people. Led by Zhang Juzheng, the court officials of the Southern Inspection, Wan Shihe and Wang Guoguang, insisted on killing them. Both sides had very sufficient reasons; they were all for the good of the Great Ming, and all for the good of the New Policies.

If someone was doing it for private gain, this matter would be easy to handle, but the bad thing was that they were all for the good of the Great Ming.

Zhang Juzheng said directly and clearly that the Emperor's tolerance of public opinion had indulged the volume of rebels over these years. In any case, it was necessary to take advantage of this matter to conduct a comprehensive liquidation, letting them know that imperial power was sacred and inviolable.

But Zhu Yijun did not feel that their harm had reached the point of needing to kill people. It was just clamoring about public opinion; the sky wouldn't fall. Covering mouths was an act of incompetence; if there was a problem, actively correct it.

Both sides were stubborn, and this matter was just stuck there, hard to resolve.

Zhang Juzheng was old, and he was afraid of more and more things.

Feng Bao said in a low voice: "Your Majesty, I do have an idea. Just keep them imprisoned. Imprison them for three to five years, and it can be considered a severe punishment. Are we short of the rations for these few hundred people?"

Since it couldn't be solved, then shelve it. It wouldn't be too late to release them after Zhang Juzheng discovered that the Emperor had not been influenced by public opinion in his support for the New Policies.

"It's a solution that is not a solution." On the issue of releasing or not releasing, Zhu Yijun chose "harmony." He didn't say release, and he didn't say not release. Just keep them imprisoned like this, shelve the dispute; there was no need to argue endlessly over such a small matter.

In Zhu Yijun's eyes, it was a small matter, but in the eyes of the court officials of the Southern Inspection, this was not a small matter. The public opinion of the Southern Yamen made the already conservative court officials even more conservative, fearing that the public opinion of the Northern Yamen would become as unbearable as that of the Southern Yamen.

Conservative court officials believed that the public opinion of the Southern Yamen was too free.

"Your Majesty, the weather is turning cold. Former Shaanxi Provincial Governor Shi Mao Hua, I'm afraid it's just these few days." Feng Bao reminded His Majesty that another important official was about to pass away.

Shi Mao Hua was the pillar of the Great Ming's northwest. In the precarious days, Shi Mao Hua carried the sky of the northwest. As one of the mainstays of the "Restore the Ordos" faction in the court, Shi Mao Hua, even while ill, wanted to go to Suiyuan to take a look, to the Ordos Plateau to take a look. In major events such as the Lanzhou woolen mill, the migration of military households from Shaanxi, Gansu, and Ningxia to Suiyuan, the establishment of Gansu Province, and the Great Ming reopening the Western Regions, Shi Mao Hua was the backbone.

The weather turned cold, and Shi Mao Hua, who had held on for another year, saw his health deteriorate day by day, not even attending the ceremony to welcome the Imperial carriage.

"Is there no way?" Zhu Yijun asked in a low voice, his mood not high.

"The Great Physicians have done their best." Feng Bao answered.

"Go take a look tomorrow."

The next morning, Zhu Yijun convened the court discussion as usual. After the court discussion, he immediately went to the Martial Arts Academy. Shi Mao Hua had a villa in the capital, which was a reward from the Emperor. He forgot which confiscation it came from—a three-courtyard mansion—but Shi Mao Hua usually lived in the Martial Arts Academy, closer to the dormitories. He liked to listen to the chants of the soldiers during morning exercises.

"Is there no plan?" Zhu Yijun arrived in front of the official residence of the Martial Arts Academy and saw Li Shizhen and Chen Shigong waiting, asking about Shi Mao Hua's situation.

"Your Majesty, medicine can no longer cure him." Li Shizhen bowed his head and said.

"Go in and take a look." Zhu Yijun adjusted his emotions and walked in.

"Viceroy Shi, His Majesty is here." The attendant whispered in Shi Mao Hua's ear, supporting Shi Mao Hua to stand up to salute. Zhu Yijun waved his hand, signaling that there was no need for formalities.

"Your Majesty..." Shi Mao Hua could no longer recognize people clearly. He looked for a long time before confirming that the person in front of him was truly the Emperor.

"It is Me, I have returned from the Southern Yamen." Zhu Yijun sat in front of Shi Mao Hua and said gently.

People were old and sick, and his speech was not very clear, even intermittent. Zhu Yijun talked to Shi Mao Hua with great patience.

"People, they are all greedy. In the past, I was always thinking about restoring the Ordos. Your Majesty exhausted your heart and energy, and finally restored the Ordos, and now you are thinking about reopening the Western Regions."

"Your Majesty, tell me, can the Populus euphratica trees be planted in the Western Regions?" Shi Mao Hua finished this sentence intermittently. He also had his own regrets. He still remembered, remembered that he hoped to plant Populus euphratica trees in the Western Regions; that was the old land of the Han and Tang.

"They can, I have promised." Zhu Yijun said very firmly: "They certainly can, no matter how long it takes."

"Good, good, good." Shi Mao Hua was a bit tired and leaned back in his chair, saying the word "good" three times. He tilted his head halfway, looking to the west, as if wanting to see through the ten thousand miles of rivers and mountains to see the vast Western Regions.

Inside the official residence, it was very quiet. No one spoke, and everyone even suppressed their breathing a little.

Li Shizhen took a deep breath, walked forward, and said in a low voice: "Your Majesty, Viceroy Shi has passed."

"I know." Zhu Yijun clenched his hands and nodded forcefully: "I know, I will sit for a while longer."

After a long time, Zhu Yijun said in a low voice: "Viceroy Shi, I promised you, to reopen the Western Regions. I have always kept My word. Let the Ministry of Rites confer a posthumous title, and bury him in the Western Hills."

The first time Zhu Yijun met Shi Mao Hua was in the 4th year of Wanli. The official he received that year was him. At that time, Shi Mao Hua was single-mindedly thinking about restoring the Ordos, even telling the Emperor that as long as the Ordos could be restored, even if the Western Regions were not reopened, it could still be defended.

But the fact was that Shi Mao Hua lied. Having been in the northwest for a long time, he knew very well that without reopening the Western Regions, the Ordos could not be defended at all.

Politics had inertia. In order to recover and civilize the Ordos, the Great Ming paid a very high sunk cost. Reopening the Western Regions had already become a consensus.

Zhu Yijun had to be responsible for his own promises, and also responsible for history.

After the Emperor returned to the capital, the court officials who were hoping for rain did not wait for the Emperor to grant a special amnesty to the imprisoned "opinion-mongers." This matter was just shelved. This was common in politics; for example, after Hu Zongxian died, Xu Wei was imprisoned for seven years.

This kind of cold treatment meant being marginalized, which was the most dangerous, because no one cared anymore. ===== CHAPTER 706 =====