Chapter 980: Liaoning, then the world is peaceful

The Great Ming's supervisory system, the censors of the Censorate, actually had a very distinct characteristic of "the superior managing the inferior."

Within the capital, they appeared to be small officials—censors of the seventh rank—impeaching high-ranking ministers. A typical example was Tan Lun coughing at the Altar of the Sun and being attacked by the censors, while the Minister of Rites Lu Shusheng also coughed but no one impeached him.

This fully indicated that before the Wanli Reform, the censors of the Censorate had long since become weapons for mutual struggle among ministers during the long-term court struggles. Behind these small officials stood high-ranking ministers.

In the decisive battle between the Zhang Party and the Jin Party, the current Regional Inspector of Yingtian, Wang Xiyuan, as well as Cao Daye, Liu Fenyong, and others, were all weapons of Zhang Juzheng.

They appeared to be small officials, but in fact, they were high-ranking ministers struggling against each other, so it was still "the superior managing the inferior."

Outside the capital, Regional Inspectors were all Vice Censors-in-Chief of the Capital, Vice Ministers of the Six Ministries, or Ministers serving in local posts. The capital officials were two ranks higher. From the initial creation of the Regional Inspector system in the Yongle era to the Wanli era, after more than 170 years of development, the Regional Inspector had actually become the head of a region, in charge of the Provincial Administration Commissioner, Provincial Surveillance Commissioner, and Regional Military Commissioner under his command.

And the local Regional Inspector could not manage the three offices; the Regional Inspector mainly supervised officials in prefectures, departments, and counties.

Provincial-level officials and above who were directly managed and supervised by the court were officials directly managed by the court, while those supervised by local censors were provincial officials managed by the locality.

The gap here was very large, like a chasm. Only by crossing this chasm and being directly managed by the court could one be considered a true court official in the officialdom.

The problem that Zhu Yijun and Zhang Juzheng were at their wit's end to face was this problem of "the superior managing the inferior."

The capital was a very special place. Too many high-ranking officials and nobles lived here, so that whatever Shuntian Prefecture did, it was bound hand and foot, and the offices were all servants and slaves of these high-ranking officials and nobles.

Zhang Juzheng said he couldn't solve it, and Zhu Yijun wanted to have the Capital Battalion take over directly, but was denied by the Grand General Qi Jiguang. This was too dangerous. A violent fluctuation in the political center would cause a terrifying political storm to sweep across the entire Great Ming.

Qi Jiguang had a flash of inspiration and proposed having the artisans from the four government factories in the capital serve as runners and clerks in the six offices to solve this problem.

Qi Jiguang thought it was more and more possible. He stood up abruptly, thought for a long time, and then said, "Your Majesty, the resident artisans in the government factories are by no means poor people or bitter laborers."

In the division of classes, the Great Ming often classified artisans above poor people and bitter laborers. But according to the new division of scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants, resident artisans should be classified as farmers, which was the class that possessed means of production, because many resident artisans now had shares and were one of the masters of the government factories.

The four major government factories in the capital—the Western Hills Coal Bureau, the Yongsheng Woolen Mill, the Yongding Woolen Mill, and the Yongping Machinery Factory—had over 100,000 resident artisans. These artisans were a massive collective centered on the government factories.

Qi Jiguang said with a serious expression,

"Your Majesty, although the Great Ming literati are very resistant to the theory of classes and believe that the theory of contradictions is enough to govern the country, when facing complex problems, one still has to take out the theory of classes to use. To replace a class, one must use another class to replace it."

"If we cut in from the theory of classes, I have discovered that the six offices and runners of the Shuntian Prefecture office are actually thugs and servants cultivated by the gentry class."

"To replace the special status of the gentry class in the capital, it is not the elite soldiers of the Capital Battalion, but the artisans."

After Qi Jiguang finished speaking, it immediately became clear.

The Capital Battalion was completely bound to imperial power. Imperial power became increasingly strong because of the growth of the Capital Battalion, but at the same time, the Capital Battalion posed a fatal threat to imperial power. This was a contradictory and unified contradiction, so the Capital Battalion could not impose military control over the capital.

But artisans could. An individual artisan might be weak, but their collective, the government factory, possessed immense power. The power they erupted with could even make the Emperor look sideways. Almost everything the court needed could be produced by the government factories, even grain.

The yield-increasing effects of liquid fertilizer and refined salt were obvious to all.

Clerks and runners from artisan backgrounds could allow the Vice Prefect of Shuntian to suffer less from the pressure of his subordinates and solve some problems.

The artisans had just come down the mountain some time ago; no one could ignore the power of the government factory artisans.

"General Qi's words make a lot of sense, a lot of sense!" Zhu Yijun's eyes lit up, and he sat up straight, saying to Feng Bao, "Hurry to the Wenyuan Pavilion and invite the Master."

Zhu Yijun let Zhang Juzheng check it. If there were good talents, he naturally had to ask more. Every solemnity when formulating policies would make the policies execute more smoothly.

Zhang Juzheng came quickly. Feng Bao told Zhang Juzheng the entire process of the imperial dialogue.

Zhang Juzheng heard that the Emperor wanted to impose military control over the capital and felt a bit emotional. He knew his disciple very well. The words "Shuntian Prefecture Hundred-One" had almost become the Emperor's heart disease, so when making decisions, he appeared a bit anxious.

In fact, with the Emperor's control over the Capital Battalion, doing this in an emergency would be completely fine.

Zhang Juzheng had once imagined the scene of Qi Jiguang rebelling and the Grand General and the Emperor clashing. That scene was simply unwatchable.

Because as long as the Emperor stood at the city gate, no elite soldier would move against His Majesty the Emperor.

His Majesty was a monarch who never deducted military pay, liked to find reasons to issue rewards, was very good to soldiers, inspected troops every day, visited military families during festivals, and had the Crown Prince support the coffin of loyal martyrs back from Tianjin Prefecture for burial.

Of course, the elite soldiers of the Capital Battalion who "report to the Son of Heaven and save the people below" were completely worthy of this courtesy.

In the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, a chaotic era where whoever had the biggest fist became the Emperor, the soldiers of that era never received such courtesy and respect. The soldiers of that time were merely tools for fighting for power and profit.

In the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, which

emperor was willing to let the Crown Prince support the coffin of ordinary soldiers back to the capital for burial?

Civil fighting and martial fighting were both fighting. The evil nature of the damage to the nation's vitality was exactly the same. There was no difference. Martial fighting looked more tragic, but for civil fighting, the price the nation had to pay was also very heavy.

His Majesty the Emperor was a living person. Regarding the matter of Shuntian Prefecture Hundred-One, he was a bit anxious. He wanted military control, he wanted to flip the table. This could be effectively implemented during the Wanli era.

But what about after Wanli? Was the Great Ming court not going to live anymore? Was the Great Ming going to slide toward complete loss of control over violence? Or, like the fourth volume that His Majesty had never published, directly abolish the imperial system?

Before productivity reached a certain boundary, abolishing the imperial system was by no means a good choice. His Majesty didn't publish the fourth volume after writing it; His Majesty also knew it wasn't the time at all.

Qi Jiguang's disapproval was for the sake of long-term stability. Qi Jiguang himself had a very good relationship with the Emperor, and Qi Jiguang was also the Emperor's martial arts teacher and imperial teacher. But the next Regional Commander was Li Rusong, and Li Rusong's relationship with the Emperor was not that close.

If Qi Jiguang agreed now, the next Regional Commander, Li Rusong, would probably only be able to commit suicide.

Zhang Juzheng heard the Emperor say he was at his wit's end and also felt a sense of powerlessness. He actually had no way either.

When the two words "artisan" appeared, Zhang Juzheng's eyes lit up, and then became brighter and brighter. He stood up abruptly, walked anxiously in the Imperial Study for three laps, and then hurriedly bowed his head and said, "Your Majesty, I have lost my composure."

"Your Majesty, it's clear, everything is clear!"

"Master, sit, sit, sit." Zhu Yijun signaled Zhang Juzheng to sit down first and not be in a hurry to express his attitude. Confucius said to think three times before acting. Clearly, Zhang Juzheng had only thought once, and now his ideas were not very mature.

Moreover, Zhang Juzheng looked a bit excited at this time. Decisions made while emotionally excited were prone to major mistakes.

A ruler should not mobilize an army out of anger, and a general should not cause a battle out of resentment.

Han Wudi defeated the Xiongnu and thoroughly laid the foundation for the Central Plains dynasty, not by relying on anger, but by long-term planning.

Zhu Yijun could preside over the Wanli Reform, not by relying on full passion, nor by relying on himself, but by the concerted efforts of the millions of people of the Great Ming. Only with the strength of ten thousand people could there be today's situation.

After Zhang Juzheng sat down, he thought for a full quarter of an hour and drank a cup of tea before saying, "Your Majesty, no Jinshi, when he is on the gold list, thinks about being a corrupt official. They cross the single-plank bridge with thousands of troops, for the sake of governing the country and bringing peace to the world, for the country to be prosperous and the people to be at peace."

"But many times, when they go to the locality to serve, they have no choice but to muddle along and collude with the corrupt. After a long time, under the alienation of power, beauty, and money, they completely become treacherous and sycophantic officials, full of calculations."

"This is also why Hanlin scholars from the Hanlin Academy enter the Cabinet directly to participate in secrets, because Hanlin scholars who don't go to the locality won't be completely alienated by these things. But Hanlin scholars who only edit books lack local governing experience and can only imagine many things out of thin air."

"Now, government factory artisans can become an important reliance. What General Qi said has opened up the last step of the Official Selection Law: the clerk background."

Zhang Juzheng spoke for a full quarter of an hour before finishing his thoughts. Qi Jiguang listened for a long time on the side, somewhat stunned. He proposed the two words "artisan" entirely to share the worries for the Sovereign, with no other thoughts. But Zhang Juzheng immediately thought of the locality from the capital, and thought of the Official Selection Law from the two words "artisan."

Resident artisans taking the exam to become clerks, entering the Imperial University through the Official Selection Law to obtain official status, and thus obtaining a complete path for promotion.

This point was something Qi Jiguang had never thought of at all.

Sure enough, the Minister of Personnel must be skilled in governance!

Just like Wan Shihe, the Minister of Rites, was really skilled in ritual law. To this day, many things in the Great Ming had to be solved by citing Wan Shihe's words from back then.

If the locality also had government factories, and these government factories cultivated enough clerks, and the descendants of artisans could also serve as runners, it wouldn't take many, as long as it could be a small half, then the court officials serving in the locality wouldn't have to rely on clerks and runners cultivated by local gentry.

And artisans were the most law-abiding. The source of troops Qi Jiguang liked most was artisans and miners, because artisans who didn't take the government factory laws seriously would inevitably have production accidents. Behind many laws and regulations were bloody lessons.

The Assessment Law was one of the cornerstones of the Wanli Reform. Reform without governing officials would lead to nothing. And the Official Selection Law, which started in the fifteenth year of Wanli, would provide sufficient powerful momentum for the Great Ming to continue its reform in the future.

"Before the Dinghai School System is completed, government factory artisans becoming clerks will become one of the cornerstones of the Great Ming's Official Selection Law." Zhang Juzheng finished his conception, indicating that government factories becoming clerks in the six offices of local government was not the end of the Official Selection Law, and there was still follow-up, which was the completion of the Dinghai School System, so that everyone had school to attend and everyone had books to read.

If the Dinghai School System could be completed, the foundation of the gentry class would be thoroughly shaken. After the Dinghai School System, the Great Ming would complete a thorough transformation, representing the further downward exploration of power. Of course, it was still a long way from the people fully participating in politics and discussing politics.

The Dinghai School System by no means meant that the local gentry would completely perish. These gentry still possessed immense influence in the locality, but no matter what, they could no longer kill or seize the people below their class. The matter of Chen Dazhuang's father wearing hemp and filial piety for the dog of the Kong Family of Yanzhou and sending it to the funeral would not happen again.

"Master, General Qi, there is one thing. The Liaodong Agricultural Reclamation Bureau reported that the grain production in Fushun Pass this year reached half of Shandong's, and is close to Jiangxi, the land of fish and rice." Zhu Yijun mentioned a major event that the Senior Grand Secretary and the Grand General needed to know.

The Great Ming court had seriously underestimated the potential of Liaodong agriculture. Before the Wanli Reform, there were only over two million Han people in Liaodong, and they were not qualified to be an Administration Commission, so they could only exist as the Liaodong Regional Military Commission attached to Shandong.

With the Liaodong land reclamation starting in the second year of Wanli, "rushing to the northeast" became a major population migration. From the second year of Wanli to the end of the eighteenth year of Wanli, the number of Han people migrating to Liaodong exceeded four million.

And this year, the grain production in Fushun Pass officially surpassed Jiangxi, becoming one of the Great Ming's main grain-producing areas.

In the ninth year of Wanli, when the Fish Scale Register was corrected, the land in Shuntian Prefecture was 68,700 qing, 13 mu, and 5 fen—6.87 million mu of land—divided into upper, middle, and lower fields. The yield per mu in Shuntian Prefecture was about 1.36 shi, and the annual grain production of Shuntian Prefecture was 9.34 million shi.

If Shuntian Prefecture's grain production was taken as one unit, then Jiangxi's grain production was 38 times that of Shuntian Prefecture, while the Liaoyang Agricultural Reclamation Bureau's quantity was 39 times, Huguang was 100 times, Henan was 116 times that of Shuntian Prefecture, and the undivided Southern Yamen was 138 times that of Shuntian Prefecture.

Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia, and Suiyuan combined were only 70 times that of Shuntian Prefecture, which meant it took two Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia-Suiyuan combined to equal one Southern Yamen before the split.

In the Great Ming grain production ranking, the Southern Yamen was first, Henan second, Huguang third, Shandong fourth. Shandong's grain production was nearly 80 times that of Shuntian Prefecture.

"Just in Fushun Pass, it has already reached half of Shandong's?" Zhang Juzheng took the memorial handed over by the Emperor in surprise and looked at it with Qi Jiguang. This growth rate of grain production in Liaodong was a bit scary.

Zhu Yijun waved his hand and said, "The Marquis of Duntai traveled far to Heilongjiang and other places, and the land masters drew the map of Liaodong. Just by estimation, if the water bubbles and tower heads in Liaodong are drained, the grain production will surpass the Southern Yamen in one fell swoop."

Of course, the time required for complete reclamation was calculated in centuries.

"If the heavenly changes continue to intensify, then continue to migrate people to Liaodong. The major migrations during the Hongwu and Yongle eras can be done again during the Wanli era. This requires General Qi's Capital Battalion to look after it thoroughly to prevent chaos." Zhu Yijun stated the main purpose of this court session.

The Regional Inspector of Liaodong, Gu Yangqian, only reported the situation inside Fushun Pass, because outside Fushun Pass, there were fewer Han people, more newly reclaimed raw land, and unstable production, etc., which made the statistical figures distorted, so Gu Yangqian did not report it. Inside Fushun Pass, there had been imperial transformation for over two hundred years, with many Han people, much mature land, and stable production, so it could be counted.

The grain production in Liaoyang reached half of Shandong's, and there was also Jilin, which was being reclaimed, and Heilongjiang, which had not yet been developed. The population that Liaodong could carry far exceeded the court's imagination.

If the heavenly changes intensified and the heavens really wanted to destroy the Great Ming, then migrate a portion of the people from Shaanxi, Gansu, and Suiyuan to Liaodong, and through the Suiyuan Imperial Road and the Beijing-Jilin Imperial Road, eat in Liaoyang, Jilin, and other places.

Not many, if they could migrate another two or three million people, and the population of Shaanxi, Gansu, and Suiyuan would no longer grow under the restrictions of the natural environment, the possibility of the Great Ming surviving the heavenly changes would increase by a lot.

"It's a pity that the Minister of Works who kept thinking about this matter can no longer recognize people." Zhu Yijun's tone was a bit tragic. Regarding responding to the heavenly changes, great news came, but the former Minister of Works Wang Guoguang, who was most concerned about this matter, had started to become muddled, which made Zhu Yijun feel sincere sadness.

"Your Majesty, I will visit Minister Wang on your behalf later and tell him this good news." Zhang Juzheng returned the Liaodong Agricultural Reclamation Bureau's memorial to His Majesty, saying with a heavy expression.

Zhu Yijun felt that he was a jinx. Every time he visited a high-ranking minister, the minister would pass away in a few days, which made Zhu Yijun's heart drum, and he didn't dare to visit high-ranking ministers much.

He actually knew clearly that it wasn't that he had jinxed them away, but that every time he visited, these officials had reached the terminal stage.

Zhang Juzheng visiting on his behalf was considered the Emperor's importance.

"Then doesn't that mean Liaodong can support a million troops?" Qi Jiguang furrowed his brow, looking at the grain production on the memorial and the extremely vast Liaodong on the map, his expression becoming increasingly ugly.

Grain production, population, and geographical environment were all concrete manifestations of war potential. Clearly, the court had extremely underestimated Liaodong's production. In the eyes of the court in the past, the Liaodong problem was just a minor skin disease, not worth worrying about, small troubles, not on the table.

But now it seemed that the Liaodong problem was fundamentally not a minor skin disease, but a heart-and-belly disaster! Because in the blink of an eye, Qi Jiguang saw that this vast land of Liaodong would become the place of rise in the special situation of heavenly changes!

Heavenly changes were the drastic changes in climate, leading to poor harvests due to water and drought, representing a significant decrease in grain production in the Great Ming's hinterland. Eating less and the population remaining the same inevitably bred civil unrest, and civil unrest further intensified the reduction of the population, ultimately leading to a vicious cycle of grain and population reduction.

The war potential of the Great Ming's hinterland was rapidly decreasing under the influence of the heavenly changes, while Liaodong was less affected by the heavenly changes, and with sufficient rainfall, it could support more people. As time went on, in less than fifty years, Liaodong would become the place of rise in this special environment of heavenly changes.

This was the Liaodong that Qi Jiguang saw.

"What General Qi said is exactly what I am worried about. Water drips through stone. With Shanhai Pass as a fulcrum, the Great Ming's hinterland and Liaodong are like a seesaw. The Great Ming's hinterland's war potential will slowly slide, and coupled with some Han and strong people defecting to the barbarians, it really

could become a heart-and-belly disaster for the Great Ming. This is why I 'blanched' Gao Huai and his adopted son." Zhu Yijun mentioned the previous case.

Gao Tan and his adopted son Gao Huai were blanched to death by Feng Bao in an extremely cruel way and transferred to the Dissection Institute, letting their corpses contribute to the Great Ming's medicine.

Once the barbarians grew strong, superimposed on the heavenly changes, the problem would be even more serious.

Liaodong could not be chaotic. If Liaodong was chaotic, the Great Ming would be chaotic, especially since Liaodong's grain production was still growing at a terrifying rate of 10% per year.

"Migrate two hundred thousand people every year, migrating the people of Shaanxi, Gansu, and Suiyuan to Liaodong." Qi Jiguang looked at the content on the map and said with a heavy expression, "This is the fundamental strategy."

The more Han people there were, the more land the Han people would reclaim, and they could plant more barbarians into the fields. The more barbarians planted, the more stable Liaodong would be. Liaoning, then the world is peaceful.

This was the final answer the Grand General obtained after hearing the production of the Liaodong Agricultural Reclamation Bureau. Migrate the people.

Zhu Yijun had Feng Bao take the land reclamation approval issued by the Liaodong Administration Commission and handed it to Qi Jiguang, saying, "My migration of people is the same as the founding Emperor and the Chengzu Emperor. Give travel expenses, give land deeds, give settlement money. Before, the Liaodong Administration Commission office couldn't be established, and the promised land couldn't be fulfilled, so it was not easy to migrate people on a large scale. Now it can be done."

Words spoken must count. If words spoken by the Golden Mouth and Jade Teeth were not fulfilled, wasn't it the same as farting?

Although this promise was only completely fulfilled in the nineteenth year of Wanli with the establishment of the Administration Commission office, the Great Ming people were like this: as long as you, the Emperor, keep your word, even if it's a bit late, the Great Ming people can accept it, and even shout "Long Live."

The Great Ming people were not afraid of water bubbles, tower heads, and the like. Hard work and diligence were the fundamental background of the Great Ming people. These things could be overcome, and the court provided sufficient tools and livestock to help Liaodong reclaim wasteland.

The government-run farms under the Agricultural Reclamation Bureau had fifty thousand cattle alone, and donkeys and mules exceeded one million. These livestock provided great convenience for land reclamation.

Liaodong had initially possessed the necessary conditions for the Great Ming to migrate people, and it could even be said that the conditions were better than when the founding Emperor and Chengzu Emperor migrated people back then.

Qi Jiguang noticed that on this approval brought by the Emperor, there were signatures and handprints of the grain chiefs, representing that the Liaodong Administration Commission already had perfect administration. The grain chiefs who went deep into the countryside were the prerequisite for organizing the people and households.

Zhang Juzheng and Qi Jiguang chatted with the Emperor for a long time before leaving the Imperial Study of the Tonghe Palace. Qi Jiguang wanted to write the "Wanli Liaodong Migration Memorial," and Zhang Juzheng wanted to write the "Resident Artisan Official Selection Memorial." The memorials of the Grand General and the Senior Grand Secretary were memorials that affected the basic pattern of the Great Ming.

Before Zhang Juzheng returned to the Wenyuan Pavilion, he first had You Shouli take the letters between him and Li Chengliang over the years. He needed to determine many situations in Liaodong.

Li Chengliang was a rough man who rambled on about many things. These letters helped Zhang Juzheng understand the situation in Liaodong.

There were many, many letters, such as how to catch bighead carp after discovering Chagan Lake, and how to send live fish to the palace, etc.

Bighead carp was a congratulatory gift from Liaodong to His Majesty. The Emperor issued two edicts not to tribute live fish, as it was labor-intensive and money-wasting, but Li Chengliang and Hou Yuzhao went their own way, and in the end, the Emperor could only let them tribute live fish.

Because they tributed live fish to His Majesty, the bighead carp of Chagan Lake could be sold to Liaodong, Beizhili, Shandong, and other places.

The Emperor said it was good after eating it, so it was naturally popular.

The Emperor toured the south twice, and along the way, there were many commercial goods that the Emperor said were good. Wanli Tribute Noodles, Wanli Tribute Crisps, Wanli Imperial Cakes, etc. As for whether His Majesty had actually eaten them, Zhang Juzheng didn't know.

What the Emperor ate and how many bowls of rice he ate a day was a confidential matter. Yang Bo was questioned by His Majesty back then: "Why are you so curious about how many bowls of rice I eat a day?" Yang Bo was terrified and knelt on the ground, unable to get up.

Merchants following the army were an ecology that most scholar-officials didn't understand. The gains from the Great Ming's conquests were finally handled to these merchants, and these merchants were also one of the main forces of land reclamation.

Zhang Juzheng checked many historical books from the Hongwu era and consulted the "Zhongyan Regulations" formulated in the third and fourth years of Hongwu, which was the "Opening Method."

Using salt and tea as intermediaries to recruit merchants to transport military grain, horses, and other items, and reclaim wasteland, etc., were all provisions of the Zhongyan Regulations.

Commercial reclamation and military reclamation were systems designed by the founding Emperor, the Taizu Emperor, in the early years of Hongwu. This set of systems operated effectively until the fifth year of Hongzhi in the Xiaozong era.

"Xiaozong..." Zhang Juzheng checked all the old cases regarding the Opening Method and couldn't be calm for a long time. He really didn't know how to describe it.

In the fifth year of Hongzhi, the Minister of Revenue Ye Qi made changes to the Opening Method and proposed the "Discount Method." Merchants no longer needed to travel long distances to transport grain and other items to the border areas; they only needed to pay silver to the salt fields to obtain salt.

This seemed to directly increase the court's annual revenue, but soon, the silver from paying silver to get salt in the salt fields only left about 1.3 million silver when it reached the court. This bit of silver was not even as high as the profit from the seaweed business.

The Great Ming salt law was also massively destroyed by the "Discount Method" that the Xiaozong Emperor and Ye Qi thought of by clapping their heads.

The reason why the salt law was destroyed was simple: because the silver paid was in the salt fields, and the silver from the bottom to the national treasury was all taken away by people layer by layer. When it reached the national treasury, only 1.3 million silver remained. The officials at all levels already respected the court very much.

The salt law was destroyed, and the Great Ming's financial tax revenue plummeted. That was fine, but the key was that commercial reclamation abandoned a large amount of land, bringing about the evil consequences of insufficient military grain and empty border reserves.

Originally, merchants reclaimed land in the Nine Borders, used the grain from reclamation to exchange for salt permits at the guard stations, and then sent the salt permits to the hinterland, where the main family took the salt and sold it everywhere.

But after the Discount Method, merchants didn't need to work hard to gather tenants to reclaim land; they only needed silver to exchange for enough salt. Merchants began to abandon land on a large scale in the border areas. In just less than five years, the supply of military grain decreased by 20%.

The price of grain in the border areas soared, reaching as high as five taels of silver per shi!

These 20% of military grain from commercial reclamation and military reclamation were so important because the Nine Borders were military-controlled areas, representing that the ecology here was actually very fragile, and one hair affected the whole body.

The Nine Borders were already in a state of "insufficient grain and slight shortage." Merchants abandoning land led to a 20% reduction in grain supply, which was equivalent to the sky collapsing for the Nine Borders.

Never mind the Nine Borders, even if the grain in the capital suddenly decreased by 20%, the price of grain in the capital would soar from five mace per shi to a price that would starve 20% of the people to death.

The first person to try to destroy the Opening Method was Liao Yongzhong, the same Liao Yongzhong who drowned the Little Ming King. Zhu Yuanzhang was furious and almost killed Liao Yongzhong.

The Discount Method that Ye Qi and the Xiaozong Emperor clapped their heads to create thoroughly ruined the Great Ming's salt tax and the supply of military grain in the border areas. In Zhang Juzheng's eyes, they also had to bear certain responsibility for the Altan Khan growing strong and invading the capital's suburbs.