Chapter 797: Using the Fire of Freedom to Ignite the Entire West

From ancient times to the present, among the countless scholars and officials, few are willing to reform and innovate, while many follow the old ways;

Those who are willing to reform often ignore reality and talk loudly about how the road ahead is a smooth path;

Those who follow the old ways ignore the facts, hoping that the laws that have not changed for ten thousand generations will flourish forever.

However, do these scholars, the dragons and phoenixes among men who passed the imperial examination, really not know the truth that ignoring reality will surely lead to confusion, the road will be cut off, and following the old ways will only lead to demise?

Impossible, they are just deceiving themselves!

How many dynasties have risen and fallen? The lessons of history are written in history books. The long river of history watches later generations repeat the mistakes that have already been made in the past.

Deceiving oneself is just being powerless.

Who has the ability? A powerful Emperor, an efficient imperial court—this is the concrete manifestation of concentrated power. Only by concentrating power can things be done.

The cohesive power of ten thousand people with one strength is invincible.

"Governor Shen is indeed young and has drive!" Zhu Yijun made his own comments on this very boring political essay. He was very happy and even hoped to see this kind of thinking, the more the better.

Expecting Zhu Yijun alone to make the Ming Dynasty great again is a luxury. Only when everyone collects firewood can the flame rise high.

"Governor Shen raised the problem, but didn't propose a solution," Feng Bao raised his own doubts.

Zhu Yijun answered with a smile, "Didn't he say it? The road ahead is long and far, I will search up and down."

The road is still very, very long. On the road forward, there will be countless challenges. It requires being down-to-earth and firmly moving toward the goal.

"Isn't this talking nonsense?" Feng Bao scratched his head. Shen Shixing seemed to have said everything, but it seemed he hadn't said anything.

Zhu Yijun said with a smile, "This political essay memorial of his is nonsense itself. Political essays that don't talk about business are originally talking nonsense. Take it and publish it in the court report, front page."

Zhu Yijun let Shen Shixing make the headlines. The discussion inside about the replacement of the new and old had profound guiding significance for the Ming Dynasty.

Especially in the process of reform, how to grasp the degree, neither losing the core value system nor hindering the formation of new consensus because of following the old ways.

The degree here: if it is light, it is useless, and the old, decaying core value system will lead the entire Ming Dynasty into the abyss; if it is heavy, it will cause moral crisis and too much chaos, deepening the tearing, and the contradictions of various classes will destroy each other in fierce conflict.

"It's not all nonsense," Feng Bao went to handle the errand. He felt that what Shen Shixing said was not nonsense, and the content in the memorial had important significance for the Ming Dynasty.

Whether these high-sounding words are nonsense, perhaps it will have to be tested by time.

Ma Minister Liang

After the audience with the Emperor, she intended to leave. She packed her luggage in the Four Barbarian Halls and waited for the arrangements of the officials of the Ministry of Rites. These envoys could move freely in the Ming Dynasty.

But most of the barbarian merchants could not leave the Ten Thousand Nations City, which represented that the Ming Dynasty refused immigration, and it was clearly prohibited by law.

The possibility of moving from overseas to the Ming Dynasty and directly entering the earthly kingdom of God was almost zero, because the appearance was different. Anyone who saw barbarians illegally entering the Ming Dynasty could report them to the imperial court and receive a reward of 300 wen.

These rewards were already a lot.

This was very reasonable. The Ming people were born and raised here, and their ancestors had paid countless bloody prices for the prosperity of this land. This was the blood tax of their ancestors.

Why should foreigners enjoy these blessings just by taking a boat here?

Ma Minister Liang looked blankly out the window of the Four Barbarian Halls. A dung cart was collecting the dung jars placed in front of the doors along the street, and by the way, dumping the garbage accumulated at the door into another box, then pushing it to the next door, passing by house after house.

These excrements were to be used for composting, and those garbage would also be pulled to the civilian houses attached to the prefecture to be sorted. Some would be pulled for composting, and some would be transported to the Xishan Coal Bureau to be burned as fuel.

The Mayor of the capital, Wang Xiyuan, once formulated a garbage classification plan, hoping that everyone in the capital would fully participate in garbage classification, reduce the manpower for garbage classification, and reduce waste, but it failed without exception.

Because it was inconvenient, very inconvenient for the Ming people.

The citizens originally only needed to pile the garbage in the trash can, and the dung cart ringing the bell would clean up the garbage. The busy Ming people didn't have the time to consider how to sort the garbage at all.

To make citizens comply with garbage classification, they must have the time to do this, but the super-long working hours made them have no time to consider how to sort the garbage at all.

A decree that is not universally observed, even with the high-efficiency and high-pressure rule of the Ming Dynasty, still cannot be forcibly pushed through.

This is the Ming Dynasty, the real Ming Dynasty. It is not perfect at all, and it is full of contradictions and games everywhere, but it is precisely this imperfection that makes Ma Minister Liang feel exceptionally real.

The Paris where she grew up was filled with the smell of fermenting excrement everywhere, and even accidentally dead bodies would not be handled by anyone, left to be covered with maggots.

Ma Minister Liang couldn't help but shiver, because she remembered some bad memories. When she was young, she sat in a gorgeous carriage and, through the car window, saw some beggars fighting for the maggots on those corpses, fighting for the corpses' belongings.

That was just a piece of clothing.

At that time, the very young Ma Minister Liang asked her father why they were fighting for these clothes and those disgusting things.

Her father told her very calmly that they were born lowly and destined to be lowly.

Watching the dung cart go further and further away, Ma Minister Liang was somewhat distracted.

She clearly knew why the prophet was not optimistic that her father could succeed.

To be precise, because in the prophet's eyes, the standards of success were different. Her father's ambition was nothing more than infighting among meat-eaters.

Whoever sat in the position of the King of Falanxi could not bring stability and prosperity to most people in Falanxi, and even Paris could not be peaceful.

Ma Minister Liang muttered to herself, "The prophet once said: class identity is often greater than ethnic identity. This is a great sorrow, because the poor who occupy the majority are always living so strugglingly, and the Ming Dynasty is the same."

"The prophet must be very painful. If he didn't understand, he could still be stupid, but the prophet is sober. He clearly knows that he is managing a huge empire. He must use every means to make the ten thousand people of the Ming Dynasty live not so hard."

"That's why the prophet is so diligent in handling government affairs."

"The prophet used huge overseas returns to exchange for landlords returning farmland to the people, even if it was just reducing a little land rent."

Zhu Yijun didn't know Ma Minister Liang's thoughts. If he did, he could only say that these fanatics always deceive themselves and can always justify themselves!

He was just used to it. Habit is a powerful inertia. It is as difficult for a person to change their habits as it is for Wang Chonggu to change his irritable nature.

Of course, there is also a little bit of this reason.

The Emperor, after all, cares about the nine provinces and ten thousand directions, the people of the world. Isn't this what should be?

Zhu Yijun was also the first time being an Emperor. He had to try his best to be qualified and make the Emperor look like an Emperor.

Ma Minister Liang remembered Antonio. The gift Antonio brought to the Emperor was not gold, silver, or jewelry, but piles of plant seeds. It was indeed catering to his preferences. The Majesty really had the ten thousand people in his heart, and Antonio really had the common people in his heart.

This might be the reason why Antonio could get the Emperor's support. At least compared to other nobles in the West, Antonio was a bit more human.

Using the loophole that one cannot speak with one's back to a noble on the street to legally stab someone to death on the street, such Western nobles are indeed not human.

The Ming nobles would never dare to do this. Even the imperial clan would be thrown into the high walls of Fengyang, which was the imperial clan prison.

"Envoy, it's time to set off." The interpreter of the Ministry of Rites knocked on the door, reminding Ma Minister Liang that she should take a carriage to Tianjin Prefecture, take a boat at Tanggu to return to Songjiang Prefecture, and take a boat back to the West.

Ma Minister Liang looked back at her residence in the Four Barbarian Halls with reluctance and went with the other Western envoys to take a carriage to the station, Chaoyangmen Station.

Chaoyangmen had been completely demolished and built into Chaoyangmen Station. This station also became the starting point of the Ming Dynasty's Beijing-Mi paved road. During the freezing period, a large amount of goods would set off from the capital to go to Mizhou to take a boat to sea, where there was an ice-free port.

This activated the economic silence period of the Ming Dynasty in the north in winter. In the past, after the autumn harvest, the entire north would fall into a silent time of commodity circulation. Now, the whole year had become exceptionally busy.

During the non-freezing period, the Beijing-Mi paved road was still very busy, because the throughput of the Tanggugang in Tianjin Prefecture could not meet the needs of cargo circulation. Even though the Tanggugang had been built with berths at the fastest speed, Tianjin Prefecture had no shipping department, started late, and could not keep up with the growth rate of demand.

Chaoyangmen Station was very, very large. If there was no one to lead, I am afraid I would get lost. In the distance, large sections of the city wall were being demolished, and wide roads were being built.

"Toot!" A sharp whistle suddenly sounded in Chaoyangmen Station. Everyone's attention was attracted. Two yamen runners in strong clothes shouted loudly, "Catch the thief!"

A person who looked a bit short and exceptionally agile shuttled through the crowd, but was soon caught up by the yamen runners. Because I don't know who stretched out a foot and tripped the thief, the thief was soon pressed to the ground and couldn't move.

This was a thief. Chaoyangmen was already very busy. After the city gate was demolished and built into a train station, it became even busier. The large flow of people gave some thieves an opportunity. Mayor Wang Xiyuan arranged a large number of yamen runners to catch thieves at Chaoyangmen Station, and the situation improved.

Ma Minister Liang took back her gaze and began to board the train in an orderly manner. These barbarian envoys sat in special carriages, and the carriages pulling the train were pulled by the Princess Shengping No. 5 iron horse, with a maximum horsepower of 96, and the Princess Shengping No. 5 iron horse with a medium horsepower of 84, which was actually smaller in size.

The Princess Shengping No. 5 iron horse had a total of twelve sections, each of which could hold 128 people or 20,000 jin of goods.

The whistle sounded, and the train Ma Minister Liang was on began to move slowly. Ma Minister Liang kept looking out the window, lost in thought. She did not participate in the gossip of these envoys.

Antonio and his wife, the Duchess Catarina, had the same grandfather. Everyone knew this, but Duchess Catarina gave birth to a healthy child. The envoys from the West were all discussing, suspecting Antonio's background.

Catarina's background was absolutely no problem. She was a Duchess. If there was a problem, the Duke of Braganza would absolutely not marry her. Even in the West, in the chaotic noble circle, those with names mostly had no problems with their background. The ones with problems were often illegitimate children.

The only problem was Antonio. He was an illegitimate child by birth.

These envoys were also joking. No one wanted to deny Antonio's status as King because of this. If they denied it indiscriminately, would they still want the Ming goods in Lisbon?

Antonio wore the five-chapter imperial robe, not the papal coronation accepted in Rome.

The current Lisbon was most like a Ming city, clean and tidy, and even had hospitals. Even though those medicinal materials were exceptionally expensive, they still provided services for all Portuguese.

"I heard that Portugal and the Ming Dynasty reached an agreement that they could send students to the Ming Dynasty to study like Spain?" The topic of an envoy suddenly pointed to Antonio's envoy, Paulino Franco.

This time, the Sword Saint Marcus did not come. He was injured while fighting pirates for the Kingdom of Portugal and needed to recuperate.

Paulino was somewhat proud, pointed to himself, and said, "We are different from you. We are a vassal state, above the friendly nations. The Ming global merchant fleet gathers in Lisbon. His Majesty reduced the tuition fees for our Portuguese students by 20%. A Lisbon student only needs 8,000 silver."

The English envoy said angrily, "But the tuition fee for a student in a Ming university is only 120 silver, and there is a 60-silver interest-free loan. When serving the imperial court, it can also be reduced. What are you proud of? The Ming Dynasty has never treated you as one of their own!"

"You are just a dog of the Ming Dynasty in the West! How can you be so proud when you are a dog!"

Paulino said quite calmly, "The Ming Dynasty has an old saying: don't look at the master when hitting a dog. Don't shout so loudly. If you attack me again, I will call the Ming embroidered uniform guards to clean you up!"

"His Majesty provided a low-interest loan of 4,000 silver for our Portuguese students, with an interest rate of only 3.1%. If they are willing to serve the Ming imperial court for three years, all interest can be reduced."

"You came to visit the Ming Dynasty this time, and you still gained nothing. The Ming Dynasty won't even sell you salt!"

The English envoy was still empty-handed. The Ming Emperor didn't even grant an audience because England still hadn't revoked the privateering license. The Ming Dynasty didn't recognize England, thinking they were all a group of sea pirates.

The noise continued, and Ma Minister Liang no longer had the heart to pay attention.

Paulino's showing off was true. The Ming Dynasty really accepted Portuguese students, although only humanities subjects were open for study, it was already precious.

The Ming Dynasty's bureaucratic system was cultivated from humanities subjects!

The Ming imperial court was already two hundred years old, as stable as Mount Tai, and running well.

Ma Minister Liang looked out the window. Along the way, Ma Minister Liang saw endless civilian houses, busy markets, lush fields, bustling streets, and sky-covering sailing ships. This time was the busiest time for the Tianjin Tanggugang.

"Goodbye Ming Dynasty, goodbye my ideal country." Ma Minister Liang took a deep breath and said goodbye to the Ming Dynasty solemnly again. She knew clearly the danger after going back. I am afraid that in this life, she would never be able to set foot in the Ming Dynasty again.

Ma Minister Liang's eyes changed from soft to firm. She changed her mind

. Her father absolutely could not succeed. Infighting among meat-eaters would only make things worse, but she could.

She found a way.

Just like Joan of Arc, Joan of Arc had many mythical colors, such as receiving the revelation of the Lord when she was very young, and Ma Minister Liang had been granted the blessing of the incarnation of wisdom after two audiences with the Emperor.

Joan of Arc was good at fighting, and Ma Minister Liang was the same. Joan of Arc led the Falanxi to get rid of the English claws, and she wanted to lead the Falanxi to obtain freedom!

Establish a free people's coalition government and complete the national construction of Falanxi!

Fight for the freedom of Falanxi! Fight for the freedom of the Falanxi people!

This was one of the core doctrines of the Great Brightness Sect, letting everyone obtain freedom, no longer being enslaved, and no longer being forced to lose everything.

These doctrines were all summarized by Ma Minister Liang from various books of the Ming Dynasty.

She knew clearly that this was an alienation of Ming culture, but it was enough. And now, she had one more definite goal: to establish a political system that "insists on making the vast majority of its people closer to free people."

"First step, use the Great Brightness Sect to awaken the Falanxi people's heart of resistance." Ma Minister Liang said to herself with a solemn expression. When the ship gradually sailed away from Tanggugang, Ma Minister Liang clearly knew what she should do.

The Ming Dynasty and the West were completely different. The ruling class of the Ming Dynasty was willing to make concessions to the poorest people. It was not that the ruling class was kind, but that the moral corruption of a large number of ruling classes, these typical cases, were published in the court reports and announced to the world.

The Emperor used the means of public trial to judge moral corruption and used court reports to make these vermin notorious, deterring those degenerates with moral corruption.

Human selfishness, whether in the Ming Dynasty or in the West, is common and unchanging. Human nature is selfish, which is understandable.

But the reason the Ming ruling class was willing to make concessions was not only high pressure, but also the rebellions in the Central Plains again and again, the resistance to various injustices again and again, and the life-and-death resistance!

In the long history of the Central Plains, the dynasties that the people chose to rise up and overthrow, and the powerful and wealthy who were slaughtered, might be more than all the powerful and wealthy in the world.

This is the fundamental reason why the ruling class in China is willing to distribute downward, and it is also the reason why the people from the bottom to the Emperor are willing to guard this country with the obsession of a martyr. This country has never been purely the ruling class's, not purely the Emperor's, but everyone's.

That is, what the prophet said: the world is the world of the people.

In countless games, the meat-eaters in China clearly realized that they needed to distribute and needed to make concessions downward, because China possessed the least docile subjects.

The meat-eaters

were really afraid, afraid of the fox's cry, afraid of the fish's belly having a note, afraid of the one-eyed stone man.

There has never been such a thing as it should be; everything is a consensus formed in the game.

The villagers of Ningdu, Ruijin, and Ninghua counties, and the villagers of Taizhou, Zhejiang, because of the tax calculation problem, chose violent resistance to injustice! They dared to resort to violent resistance to injustice!

Even so, the Ming Emperor still firmly believed that the Ming subjects were the best and most docile subjects in the world.

But in the West, right now, except for the Netherlands, no one else chose to resort to violence. This phenomenon must change.

Why did no one choose to resist except the Dutch? Ma Minister Liang thought deeply about this question. She even went to the Netherlands several times, because the cruel rule forced the Dutch to stand back-to-back and form a consensus of resistance!

The Oath of Abjuration was a precious consensus!

Most of the poor laborers in the West could not form a consensus. It was frequent mutual harm at the bottom, making people guard against each other, suspect each other, and question each other.

The simplest example: Mayor Wang Xiyuan built a large number of public toilets to ensure hygiene. This was a public investment and was quickly passed unanimously by the councilors. The councilors in the court didn't want to step on excrement to go to work, as they would be ridiculed.

And the excrement collected in public toilets could be used for composting. Usually, one jin of compost could be sold for six wen. Four hundred years ago, Emperor Gaozong of the Song Dynasty also did composting business.

In the West, there were no toilets. In the foul-smelling environment, citizens complained that the homeless destroyed hygiene, discriminated against the homeless, and even beat them. The homeless fought back desperately.

This is the widespread mutual harm at the bottom, which affects the formation of consensus, and the nobles in the West seem to be very good at creating mutual harm at the bottom to prevent the formation of consensus.

The construction of the Ming Dynasty is based on collectivism, martyrdom, selflessness, and sacrificing individual interests for collective interests; while the background construction of the West is based on individualism, enjoyment, and prioritizing the preservation of individual interests.

First, tell everyone that their suffering is not God's trial. These sufferings are not the road to heaven.

This world should not be like this, just as the prophet said: people are born and live, not to endure suffering and humiliation.

The Great Brightness Sect will ignite the first holy fire belonging to the human world in the West!

Ma Minister Liang understood her path and how she should go down it.

"What you are going to do is very dangerous." An interpreter heard Ma Minister Liang's self-talk and chose to chime in.

Ma Minister Liang asked with a smile, "Is what the Emperor is doing not dangerous? Why does the Emperor do it?"

"Because he is not afraid!"

"Why is he not afraid!"

The interpreter thought for a moment and said clearly, "Because the Emperor is the Emperor, supreme,

with famous ministers and good generals to assist, and there are emerging bourgeoisie as supporters, supporting the Emperor's reform, so he is not afraid. Most importantly, there are subjects loyal to the Emperor."

"And me, I am just a petty official, but I firmly believe that the Emperor will lead the Ming Dynasty to revival and let most people live a better life than in the past."

"I will enter the Royal Academy of Sciences next year to study science and engineering. If I perform well, I can become an official."

The interpreter was full of expectations for his future life. He thought he would just be a petty official for the rest of his life, but he didn't expect to have a day to leap over the dragon gate. Because of his excellent past performance, he became the second batch of commissioned petty officials to enter the Capital University.

Ma Minister Liang was silent for a moment. Her conditions were much worse, much worse. She said indifferently, "I want to use the fire of freedom to ignite the entire West."

"My father will oppose me, the shepherds will oppose me, and the believers of the Great Brightness Sect will oppose me, but I still have to do it."

"If I am killed, killed on the road forward, the Great Brightness Sect will truly succeed, because the fire of freedom ignited by life will not be extinguished and will illuminate the path of later generations."

"This is one of the eight virtues of the prophet: sacrifice."

The interpreter looked at Ma Minister Liang blankly and said very unexpectedly, "I didn't expect your doctrine to be quite complete."

"I have to rely on sacrifice to complete the blood tax and reach a consensus, so I am not afraid either." Ma Minister Liang took a deep breath toward the sea. The sea breeze blew on her face, and she said very firmly to the sea, "I firmly believe that the Falanxi people can also live like the Ming people."

"I wish you success." The interpreter answered calmly, but often in contact with Western academics, he actually knew very well that the road was correct, but whether it could be walked to the end depended on good fortune.

The interpreter thought for a moment and said, "Actually, Western culture is easier to create class barriers. Your characters are a bit strange, just like a lamb is a child of a sheep. A lamb and a sheep have a strong correlation, but you create a spelling word and separate them."

"The cost of learning is really too high. What if the Great Brightness Sect succeeds? Just increase the cost of learning, and everything will be a waste of effort."

"Of course, there is also a big gap between the Ming Dynasty's vernacular characters and classical Chinese. The Emperor is working hard, and we interpreters are also trying our best to simplify the characters to adapt to universal education."

The interpreter reminded the Great Brightness Sect from his professional problem. The problem in the West is not just the religion she saw, but also the characters.

As a carrier of civilization, once characters become a class barrier, I am afraid that no matter how glorious the victory is, it will become inconspicuous quicksand in the long river of history.

The Ming Dynasty did not intend to provide any material help. The development of a country and a group of people requires self-struggle.

Ma Minister Liang suddenly

widened her eyes and said in surprise, "I didn't realize this problem at all. I couldn't understand why the Ming Emperor was so greedy... stingy... frugal, and still spent tens of millions of silver to build the Nine Dragon University!"

"No, I felt it. I asked the Emperor for the Chinese version of the Theory of Classes!"

The interpreter said with a smile, "Writing the same characters, driving the same tracks, and acting with the same ethics. This is a sentence from the 'Book of Rites: Doctrine of the Mean.' It was originally a beautiful vision. Later, it was achieved by the First Emperor's prefecture and county system. Thinking about it, it is really incredible. This is truly a remarkable achievement."

"So, my personal suggestion is that characters should be unified and optimized. For the sake of standardization, the Ming Dynasty has made some corrections to Latin, such as adding more letters and syllables, and sorting out some words."

"I hope it can be of a little help to you." ===== CHAPTER 798 =====

"No, I have felt it. I requested the Chinese version of the *Class Theory* from His Majesty!"

The interpreter smiled and said, "Writing the same script, using the same gauge for carriages, and following the same ethics—this is a quote from the *Book of Rites: Doctrine of the Mean*. It was originally a beautiful vision, and later, it was achieved by the First Emperor through the commandery-county system. Thinking about it, it really is incredible; this truly is a magnificent achievement."

"Therefore, my personal suggestion is that the script should be unified and optimized. For the sake of standardization, the Great Ming has made some revisions to Latin, such as adding more letters and syllables, and refining some vocabulary. I can hand these standards over to you."

"I hope it can be of a little help to you."