Chapter 799: Harboring Resentment in Defeat, Seeking Retribution in Victory

The direct reason Zhu Yijun does not favor Ma Liang is that God forbade the construction of the Tower of Babel.

The Tower of Babel—the King of Neo-Babylonia ordered the construction of a tower reaching to the heavens; "raise the tower high, shoulder to shoulder with the sky" was the political decree for building this tower.

God was shocked and enraged by this tower; humans had actually built such a high tower to spread their own fame, so God sent angels to confuse the languages of the Neo-Babylonian Kingdom, making it impossible for the Babylonians to communicate with each other. The tower was never completed, and the Neo-Babylonian Kingdom was soon destroyed by the Persians.

The Tower of Babel, by and large, represents humanity attempting to challenge the authority of God through its own power. In this religious story, it says that humans must not be arrogant and challenge God.

The more effort and attempts made, the greater the anger provoked from God, thereby bringing down divine punishment.

Ma Liang took a few books from the Great Ming and wanted to change the value system formed over thousands of years in the West; this is truly too whimsical.

Zhang Juzheng wanting to manually screen out the Jinshi from the 26th year of Jiajing to the 41st year of Jiajing is also for this purpose: to maintain the core value system of the Great Ming.

The Jinshi of this period are officials who have completely lost faith in the Great Ming.

Studying hard by the window, ignoring affairs outside, focusing only on the books of sages—when they finished their studies and truly entered the world, the Great Ming was in a precarious state, and the dynasty was decaying. Their recognition and support for the Great Ming naturally remained at a historical low, and naturally, they would not be loyal.

Zhang Juzheng clearly knows what kind of harm it would cause if this group of people were to climb to the center of power in the Great Ming dynasty.

Since the 41st year of Jiajing, the Great Ming's anti-Japanese war has been winning victory after victory. Ma Fang completed the strategy of attacking instead of defending against Andahan in the Northwest, and the Great Ming as a whole has returned to stability. Although there is still a pile of various messy affairs, it is much, much better than before.

"Whether I agree or not, the Master will do it; he is as stubborn as I am." Zhu Yijun finally agreed.

Zhang Juzheng is a very, very stubborn person who is difficult to persuade. If he wants to do something, Zhu Yijun has to pay a high price to stop him, and Zhu Yijun cannot find sufficient reasons to persuade Zhang Juzheng to change his mind.

If it were just a lack of loyalty to the Emperor, that would be one thing, but he is not even loyal to the Great Ming. Zhu Yijun does not even dare to imagine what it would be like if they climbed to high positions like the Grand Secretariat and controlled power.

"Your Majesty, the Second Grand Secretary recommends Wang Jiaping to return to the capital to serve as the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice and concurrently oversee all affairs of the Xishan Coal Bureau." Feng Bao spread a memorial before the Emperor.

Wang Chonggu recommending Wang Jiaping to return to the court is a plan to have him enter the Grand Secretariat.

Wang Jiaping, a Jinshi from the 2nd year of Longqing, is considered a member of the young and vigorous faction. Clearly, by overseeing all affairs of the Xishan Coal Bureau, Wang Chonggu intends to hand over the positions of leader of the Industry Party and leader of the Jin Party to Wang Jiaping, rather than to his own biological son, Wang Qian.

Wang Chonggu is old; he is looking for someone to succeed him.

【Line 799-19 is a continuation of 799-18】

Unlike Zhang Juzheng, Zhang Juzheng does not need to worry about this; the only successor to all of Zhang Juzheng's political decrees is the Emperor, and it can only be the Emperor.

"Actually, giving it to Wang Qian would also be quite good." Zhu Yijun looked at this recommendation memorial and said with some hesitation: "Wang Jiaping probably won't be happy. The main thing is that the Jin Party has already been completely broken up. It would be fine if it were only the Industry Party."

Under successive heavy blows, the Jin Party, like the Yan Party and Xu Party of the past, has become somewhat notorious. Even Wang Chonggu has been suppressing the Jin Party to build up imperial favor.

This has a lot to do with the fact that Fan Yingqi, a backbone of the Jin Party, took a large amount of opium due to a toothache and eventually ended up in the Dissection Institute.

With only Wang Jiaping left to support it alone, the Jin Party naturally lost its backbone. Without cohesion and with no one to succeed, this is a severe problem that every organization must face.

Feng Bao shook his head and said: "If you give it to Wang Qian, the Second Grand Secretary will probably be scolded by the censors until he can't leave his house."

Wang Qian is his biological son, and Yao Guangqing is his son-in-law. If he gives it to family members, Wang Chonggu will not be able to face the censors pointing at his spine and scolding him. The scolding from scholars is truly filthy.

"But the Second Grand Secretary and Wang Jiaping don't get along very well; this must be made clear. If the Second Grand Secretary retires and Wang Jiaping launches revenge against the Second Grand Secretary's people, this will destroy the overall situation of the Industry Party." Zhu Yijun was still somewhat hesitant.

Wang Jiaping is a student of Ge Shouli. Once Wang Jiaping sits in the position of party leader, I am afraid that Wang Chonggu's people will not end up well. Back then, the Jin Party split into two factions; Wang Jiaping had to lower his head and beg Wang Chonggu to get things done.

"This is the grace of recommendation. Even if Wang Jiaping wants to do something, he won't dare to do it too obviously, and he won't dare to destroy the great cause of the Industry Party." Feng Bao does not think Wang Jiaping will do anything. Wang Chonggu recommended him; if he were to launch a massive revenge, that would be ungrateful.

If Wang Jiaping is truly ungrateful, it would be one thing if he did better than Wang Chonggu, but if he did worse, then Wang Jiaping would not be able to sit securely in the position of party leader.

Not to mention the countless large-scale construction projects by the casting workshops, the various regulations for the official factories from scratch, or the founding of the Labor Party; just looking at the Chonggu Post Road and the Chonggu City that hasn't even been built yet, what does Wang Jiaping have to reach the heights of Wang Chonggu?

Wang Jiaping simply cannot handle it; he is morally ungrateful, it is very difficult for him to surpass the achievements, and he still wants to launch a counterattack and settle old scores—he will only turn himself into a joke.

"In this way, renovate the All-Jin Guild Hall inside and out, change the sign, and call it the Labor Hall. From now on, students of artisan background coming to the capital for the imperial examinations, clerks entering the Nine Dragons University for study, and artisans coming to the capital for business can all stay at the Labor Hall," Zhu Yijun decided.

Wang Jiaping can return to the capital and can take over as the leader of the Labor Party, but there is no need for the leader of the Jin Party, or the Jin Party itself, to continue.

With the Labor Party and the Jin Party completely severed, the All-Jin Guild Hall also officially lowered its curtain; people from Jin coming to the capital for business can still stay there, but it will primarily become a gathering place for artisans.

"Expand the eighty mu to one hundred and twenty mu, and build six-story official quarters; it would be better if more people could be accommodated." Zhu Yijun gave an extra forty mu of land to make the area of the Labor Hall larger.

"Your Majesty is wise, your subject obeys the decree." Feng Bao received the imperial decree; he felt that His Majesty's handling was more secure. The All-Jin Guild Hall was the symbol of the Jin Party; the curtain falling on the All-Jin Guild Hall represented the complete end of the Jin Party.

In this way, even if Wang Jiaping wanted to launch a counterattack and settle old scores, he wouldn't have the ability to do so, as there wouldn't be that many supporters left.

The holy land of the Jin Party, the All-Jin Guild Hall, had its sign changed; without a backbone, the Jin Party was just a mob that couldn't accomplish anything major.

Feng Bao took out his thick memorandum and pointed to one of the items, saying: "Your Majesty, the development of the two Guang regions is extremely rapid; although slightly inferior to Songjiang Prefecture, the difference is not large."

"Last year, the Maritime Customs Office of Songjiang Prefecture turned in 1.21 million silver in tariffs, and Guangzhou Prefecture turned in 1.16 million silver; the gap is no longer large. The official factory profits turned in by Guangzhou Prefecture were 1.32 million silver, which is 30,000 silver more than Songjiang Prefecture."

"Most of the official factories in Guangzhou Prefecture were built by Viceroy Wang in the two Guang regions, and the largest item among them is iron pots. Last year, the Guangzhou Prefectural Yamen supervised the production of 200,000 iron pots; Foshan iron pots are world-famous."

Wang Jiaping being valued is not without reason; Wang Jiaping is an important backbone of the Labor Party, and the thirteen official factories of Guangzhou Prefecture are one of the Labor Party's great achievements.

It is just that, in daily life, Songjiang Prefecture is simply too dazzling, masking the brilliance of the thirteen official factories of Guangzhou.

Zhu Yijun said with some confusion: "You find two iron pots and bring them here; I want to see exactly what kind of thing it is that actually sells so well!"

Selling well and also being able to become one of the means for Wang Jiaping to manipulate the powerful and wealthy is truly a bit strange.

Feng Bao quickly found two wide-bottomed pots from the Imperial Kitchen; the pots the Emperor uses for meals are wide-bottomed pots, also called Cantonese pots, with a diameter of over one foot. They are not the large pots Zhu Yijun imagined, but ordinary stir-fry pots.

"This thing sells for one tael of silver each?" Zhu Yijun weighed it; it was three jin in weight, not particularly thick or heavy, but of superior quality.

Feng Bao said with a smile: "Your Majesty, the value of a Cantonese pot lies in its durability; thin and smooth is best. The smelting is refined, so it can be used for a long time. A pot can be used for half a lifetime. Your Majesty, even the Great Sage said it was good after using it."

Guangzhou Foshan pots are expensive, but the reason they are expensive is that they are good and of superior quality. It is not that Guangzhou's iron ore is good—Guangzhou's iron ore is almost no different from the north, or even worse—it is that the casting craftsmanship is good.

"Oh, the Great Sage said it was good after using it?" Zhu Yijun asked with some confusion.

"The Great Sage really said it was good after using it! In Chapter 75 of Journey to the West, it says: 'I, Old Sun, passed through Guangdong yesterday and brought back a folding iron pot; now I will slowly boil you into mincemeat!'" Feng Bao hurriedly replied. As the number one bestseller in the Great Ming, Journey to the West was still very popular.

Business in Foshan is primarily based on smelting and casting, and with smelting as the core, countless

industries have been started.

Feng Bao said with a face full of smiles: "Guangzhou Prefecture is competing with Songjiang Prefecture. Why should Songjiang Prefecture be the bridgehead for the Great Ming's opening of the seas? Guangzhou is not bad either. Guangzhou is now the true capital of the Nanyang!"

"Therefore, Wang Jiaping returning to the capital is not because he knows nothing about production; this is his memorial."

Songjiang Prefecture is the actual capital of Ryukyu, Nagasaki, and Jilong Island; almost all the timber produced on Jilong Island enters the Songjiang Prefecture shipyards.

Just like Yunnan Dali, which is actually the capital of the Indochina Peninsula.

Because of its geographical advantages, Guangzhou is the capital of the entire Nanyang; over sixty percent of the goods in the Nanyang must be collected and distributed in Guangzhou.

This memorial written by Wang Jiaping is about the establishment of large-scale free employment production relations and an analysis of the contradictions between official-run and private-run enterprises.

Wang Jiaping discovered a universal phenomenon, which is that private workshops are even more rigid than official-run ones.

Asking private workshop owners to spend thousands of taels of silver to train accountants, to train in the six-volume bookkeeping method, to master various skills, to improve production efficiency, to reduce production costs, to improve product quality to increase competitiveness, and to increase productivity—these private workshop owners are unwilling to do so at all.

But these private workshop owners lose tens of thousands of taels of silver in gambling dens overnight, and not only do they not feel heartache, but they will show off everywhere, appearing extremely wealthy.

When these private workshop owners are competing for business, they only know how to lower prices, and then they arrange for artisans to work overtime and cut corners. If there is any trouble in the business, they curse the Yamen, curse the Imperial Court for being too meddlesome, for managing too much, for not giving land, not giving policies, not giving tax incentives, for tax audits being as fierce as tigers, for not lending money, etc. Anyway, they don't blame themselves for being stupid.

If they lose money in their own business, it is the fault of the Imperial Court.

In the tenth year of Wanli, the price of Foshan iron pots reached five qian of silver, half lower than the regular price, especially for foreign trade goods. The export profit was large, but the price fell by half. These private workshop owners were still clamoring for the Imperial Court to reduce taxes, but they were all sprayed back by Wang Jiaping.

Wang Jiaping set up a two-Guang pot factory, absorbed folk artisans, and began casting iron pots. The iron pots were more expensive but of better quality, and they quickly swept the entire Guangzhou pot industry, occupying more than thirty percent of the market, which allowed the prices in this industry to gradually return to normal.

Good money can also drive out bad money.

The powerful and wealthy in the two Guang regions hated Wang Jiaping to the bone, not only because Wang Jiaping played dumb, but also because Wang Jiaping really had methods.

If he only played dumb, these powerful and wealthy people would not be afraid at all, but with the addition of methods, it made the powerful and wealthy people miserable. At the very least, Yin Zhengmao and Ling Yunyi did not compete with them for business.

"Economic status determines political stance; only when official factories and official-run economies occupy a dominant position can the Imperial Court and local Yamens occupy a dominant position."

"A dominant position is not only the main economic entity and source of fiscal revenue, but it must also play a guiding role, guiding industrial development

?? instead of going further and further down a wrong path." Zhu Yijun exclaimed in admiration; this Wang Jiaping still had some real skills.

"Your Majesty, scholar-officials have never been stupid; they are simply purely evil," Feng Bao said very affirmatively.

Zhu Yijun deeply agreed and said: "That's a very dirty curse."

In the two Guang regions, the thing Wang Jiaping did the most was to study how to make the Great Ming officialdom develop in a healthy and orderly manner.

In Wang Jiaping's view, only when official factories and private workshops form orderly competition can they make each other's business last for a long time. It is like the two sides of yin and yang; isolated yin does not grow, and isolated yang does not arise. Contradictions—without the spear, the shield loses its meaning; without the shield, the spear need not exist.

Whether it is an official factory or a private workshop, as long as one is dominant, there is only one outcome, and that is the destruction of itself.

"Interesting." Zhu Yijun finished reading the entire memorial. In the first part, Wang Jiaping discussed the internal contradictions of the Great Ming, and in the second part, Wang Jiaping prepared a big project for the Emperor!

The Mo family of the Annam Kingdom intends to submit to the Great Ming.

The situation in the Annam Kingdom is extremely complex, fitting the typical characteristics of "a small temple with evil winds, and a shallow pond with many turtles." The ancestors of the Later Le Dynasty, Le Loi, rebelled, and the thirteen divisions of Jiaozhi became the Annam Kingdom again.

Time flies, and the Annam Kingdom has generally become a situation of "countless powerful ministers in the court, and separatist regimes on all four sides outside the court."

The Mo Dynasty, established by Mac Dang Dung after he usurped the throne, occupied the capital Thang Long (modern Hanoi), which is the area north of the Red River;

The Later Le Dynasty, supported by the Trinh family, occupied the south. This Trinh family is also not a kind person; King Le Duy Dam is not even a rubber stamp;

Further south, there is Champa. The Champa region itself does not get along with the north. When the north fell into chaos, Champa simply set up its own household.

In addition to these three main forces, there are two other forces: one is the Longping Vu family, and the other is the Hue Nguyen Lord.

The Mo family, Trinh family, Vu family, Nguyen family, and the Champa King are the five major forces of the Annam Kingdom.

It is the Mo family that wants to surrender completely to the Great Ming and asks for heavenly troops to guard Thang Long. The reason is also very simple: if the heavenly troops don't go, their old Mo family won't even be able to guard the capital of Thang Long and will be seized by the Trinh family.

Ever since the founder of the Mo Dynasty, Mac Dang Dung, died, this Northern Mo Dynasty has been like an old man over forty—getting worse every day.

Internal strife within the royal clan; one side finishes singing and another takes the stage, the royal flags on the city walls change endlessly; the army does not obey orders, and they engage in military remonstrance at every turn; they lose repeatedly in foreign wars, and they are disastrous defeats, going from suppressing the old Trinh family to being severely beaten by the old Trinh family;

The Mo family also had heroes. When the Regent Mac Kinh Dien was alive, he could barely maintain it. Once Mac Kinh Dien died, the old Mo family showed signs of collapsing tomorrow.

Mac Mau Hop, who grew up under the protection of the Regent, seeing that the national situation was in danger, stopped putting on airs and planned to surrender directly to the Ming.

When Mac Mau Hop became the King of the Mo Dynasty

he was only 1 year old. It was all maintained by the Regent Mac Kinh Dien, who fought inside the court and kicked outside the court, fighting back and forth with the Trinh family without letting the Trinh family take advantage.

But this Regent died of illness. With the death of the authoritative figure, Mac Mau Hop had no way to control the court situation. After repeatedly weighing the pros and cons, Mac Mau Hop planned to refer to the offline monarchy system and go to the Great Ming to be an offline Annam King.

The reasons that led Mac Mau Hop and the civil and military officials of the whole court to make this decision.

There are two: one is that the Great Ming's offline monarchy system is done very well. For example, the drama of the Ryukyu King Shang Jiu and the Japanese King Ashikaga Yoshiaki throwing dung at each other spread to the Annam Kingdom. In addition, there is the suzerain Great Khan, Tuman Khan, who is also an offline monarchy system.

The Great Ming wants to save face. Although I annexed your territory, I still raised your royal family, and they are still in a position of being superior to others, it's just that the vassal restrictions are a bit awkward.

The second reason is that the Mo Dynasty itself is a subordinate territory of the Great Ming, not a vassal state. Mac Mau Hop is the Annam Commissioner-in-Chief enfeoffed by the Great Ming, with a rank of secondary second grade, hereditary and permanent. As a military officer enfeoffed by the Great Ming and as a subordinate territory of the Great Ming, now that they can't hold on, it is very reasonable to ask the Great Ming for support!

The Great Ming will station troops, the Great Ming will manage, and his Mac Mau Hop's whole family will go to the Great Ming to enjoy blessings!

"This Mac Mau Hop thinks quite well, but can those people under him agree?" Zhu Yijun looked at this memorial and considered the feasibility.

"Your Majesty, it is the civil and military officials of the Mo Dynasty who are forcing Mac Mau Hop to submit. Mac Mau Hop also went with the flow and agreed, and even specially sacrificed to the ancestors to report to the ancestors." Feng Bao shook his head and said: "Without relying on the Great Ming, the Trinh family will kill their way to Thang Long and can kill their whole family."

"The Great Ming has rules and measures in doing things. At most, we won't let them continue to be officials. Can we really kill them?"

The change in the situation is related to Zhang Juzheng. Zhang Juzheng imported grain from the Annam Kingdom, which is imported grain. Later, Wang Jiaping increased the intensity and forcibly expanded the scale of imported grain several times. After the Regent Mac Kinh Dien died, the internal and external contradictions were too serious, with strong enemies outside and constant civil unrest.

Submitting to the Great Ming gives them a way to live; submitting to the Southern Trinh, the Southern Trinh will use them to sacrifice the flag.

"Why didn't Wang Jiaping have an opinion? He just reported this one thing. What does he plan to do?" Zhu Yijun keenly sensed that Wang Jiaping hadn't finished speaking. He reported the matter but had no opinion.

The Imperial Court doesn't know much about the situation there, so how can they make a decision?

"Viceroy Wang also sent a secret memorial." Feng Bao took out a secret box. This must be opened by the Emperor himself; it is another communication channel.

After Zhu Yijun checked the secret box and confirmed it was correct, he opened the secret box and saw Wang Jiaping's handling opinion.

"No wonder Wang Jiaping didn't say it." After Zhu Yijun finished reading the secret memorial inside, he chose to burn it to ashes. Wang Jiaping had never said the words in the secret memorial.

Wang Jiaping was very straightforward in the secret memorial, just one word: wait.

If he surrenders to the Great Ming, will we accept? If he surrenders, does the Great Ming have to let Mac Mau Hop be an idle prince? He wants to be a dog, does the Great Ming allow him to be a dog?

Only when the Northern Mo is truly at the end of its rope and has nowhere to go, and when the Southern Trinh has truly fought into Thang Long, will the Great Ming's intervention be the optimal solution.

Mac Mau Hop is indeed the hereditary Annam Commissioner-in-Chief enfeoffed by the Great Ming, but it is factually independent, and the subordinate territory is only nominal. How to turn a nominal subordinate territory into a real subordinate territory is what the Imperial Court should consider.

If it weren't for being at the end of their rope and at the end of their resources, the Great Ming's rule in the Annam Kingdom would learn from the old events of the Yongle and Xuande periods, falling into a dilemma of being unable to rule effectively, with local resistance forces being too strong and the rift being too serious.

For those profiteers of the Mo Dynasty, if the Great Ming doesn't kill them, the policies will definitely not be implemented. It is better to beat them into a piece of red land before taking action. A blank sheet of paper is easy to paint on, like the affair of Joseon.

This is Wang Jiaping's attitude. His thoughts, written in the memorial, are somewhat morally corrupt and excessively evil. If there were no secret memorial system, Zhu Yijun would not know these inner thoughts of Wang Jiaping.

Zhu Yijun pondered for a while and said: "Issue an imperial decree to Guangzhou Prefecture: Wang Jiaping is to return to the capital to await assignment, and send Liu Jiwen, Vice Minister of the Ministry of War, to Guangzhou to serve as the Guangdong Provincial Governor."

In fact, the meaning of the Cabinet is very clear. Wang Chonggu recommended Wang Jiaping to return to the capital, obviously having communicated with Zhang Juzheng. Wang Jiaping has served in the two Guang regions for a long time. If they agreed to the Northern Mo's submission, Wang Jiaping could not leave his post in the short term. Since the Cabinet agreed to a major personnel transfer, it is obvious that a consensus has been reached.

This provides a very reasonable reason to continue waiting. Wang Jiaping has returned to the capital, and the new Provincial Governor Liu Jiwen has just arrived in Guangzhou Prefecture and needs to familiarize himself with the business.

According to Wang Jiaping's estimate, in at most three to five years, the Northern Mo will completely be unable to hold on.

Zhu Yijun's imperial decree was transmitted to the Cabinet and quickly passed down layer by layer. When Wang Chonggu returned home, the sign of the All-Jin Guild Hall had already been removed to Wang Chonggu's home.

Wang Chonggu did not live in the All-Jin Guild Hall, and he rarely went there. Now that the sign of the All-Jin Guild Hall had been removed to his home, he looked at the sign, and it could be said that he had mixed feelings.

"Son, back then, Master Xinzheng Gao Gong, Minister of Personnel Yang Bo, and I formed this Jin Party and built this All-Jin Guild Hall, actually with only one idea: to resolve the invasion of Andahan and stop the bleeding of the Great Ming Dynasty." Wang Chonggu stood in front of the plaque and sighed heavily, his figure even hunched a bit.

"More than twenty years have passed." Wang Chonggu touched the characters on the plaque; these characters were written by Gao Gong.

"At that time, the Imperial Court was poor, and the war in the northwest was like a foot-long wound. The Great Ming was bleeding non-stop. Risking the world's condemnation, we made peace with Andahan. If it reached this point, I could still say with a clear conscience that we were loyal and good ministers."

"If we continue to fight, neither side can do anything to the other, and it will only waste the national treasury. Stopping the war and making peace violates the ancestors' established laws, but

it must be done. If we don't make peace, the Great Ming will definitely perish; it will inevitably perish."

"But later, people's hearts changed, like going crazy, and in the end, they all turned into treacherous and sycophantic ministers."

Wang Qian frowned and shook his head, saying: "Father, His Majesty has never said that Master Xinzheng and Yang Bo were treacherous or sycophantic ministers; they were all given posthumous titles and even given official burials. The coffin has been closed and the verdict decided; they are not treacherous ministers. Xu Jie and Zhang Siwei are the treacherous and sycophantic ministers."

Wang Chonggu smiled and shook his head, saying: "It's just that His Majesty is broad-minded and too lazy to argue with Master Xinzheng. His Majesty originally didn't want to give Gao Gong a posthumous title; that was something Zhang Juzheng begged for. Now His Majesty wants to dig up Master Xinzheng's grave, and even Zhang Juzheng can't stop it."

"This stubborn old man, Master Xinzheng, the biggest mistake he made in his life was that he didn't realize at the beginning that His Majesty was lazy."

"Alright, chop the plaque into pieces and throw it in the woodshed to burn for fire."

Gao Gong had two crimes: the first was asserting that the Emperor was unlearned and would find it difficult to rule the world when he grew up; the second was making wild remarks in the Cabinet that a ten-year-old ruler could not rule the world. With any other emperor, Gao Gong could not have had a posthumous title.

His Majesty is broad-minded and too lazy to pay attention to him.

Not to mention Gao Gong, even Zhang Juzheng is very pessimistic.

"Father, why did His Majesty want to remove this plaque?" Wang Qian said in a low voice: "I don't understand."

"You are usually so smart, how can you be confused about this major matter?!" Wang Chonggu said very seriously: "His Majesty is protecting our family. That Wang Jiaping has the background of the Jin Party, and your father and I are not on the same path as him."

"If he returns to the capital and the All-Jin Guild Hall is still there, he would have the ability to launch a counterattack and settle old scores with our family."

"Now that the All-Jin Guild Hall is gone, even if he sits in the hall, he is sitting in the Labor Hall, which I built. Even if he is as disgusted as if he had eaten a hundred flies, he can only endure it."

Wang Qian waved his hands repeatedly and said: "It's not that I don't understand His Majesty's intention; I certainly understand that. I just don't understand why Father and His Majesty both judged that Wang Jiaping would liquidate our family?"

Wang Chonggu shook his head and said: "Why? Because your father, in order to save his life, became a traitor to the Jin Party, and traitors are the most hateful."

"Wang Qian, remember, there is only one sentence in this court: victory and defeat are very important. If you lose, you will hold a grudge; if you win, you will launch a counterattack and settle old scores. Throughout history, both at home and abroad, it has always been like this!"

Wang Qian carefully savored it and could only say that his old father was worthy of being a treacherous minister—cunning and old-fashioned, summarizing it very thoroughly. He hurriedly said: "Father, I know now. As long as we keep winning, it will be fine. I stand on His Majesty's side; if His Majesty wins, our family wins."

"I firmly believe that His Majesty can keep winning."

The reason is quite simple: His Majesty the Emperor is much more ruthless than Zhang Juzheng himself. History seems to always be like this: the victory of the ruthless over the mindless.

"Father, I drew one million silver from the mansion." Wang Qian said in a low voice.

Wang Chonggu frowned and said: "Taking so much silver, what did you go to do?"

"I invested in the Jifu Viceroyalty at the end of the Western Ocean. The inner treasury and the national treasury indeed don't have much silver, and business needs silver, so I took the silver to His Majesty." Wang Qian told Wang Chonggu where the silver went.

He invested in the Jifu Viceroyalty at the intersection of the Western Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean for His Majesty, to compete with the Mozambique Viceroyalty of the Red-Haired Barbarians.

"The censors have great opinions about the Jifu Viceroyalty." Wang Chonggu said helplessly: "Indeed, it looks not very cost-effective. The trend of meticulous calculation in the court is just like it was at the beginning."

"Indeed, in the short term, no huge returns can be seen."