Chapter 988: Essays of the Hanlin Academy, Eradicating the Style of Empty Talk

The definition of public and private: public is defined in relation to private; public is a larger collective compared to private.

The concept of public and private was defined by Zhang Juzheng based on the characteristics of contradiction being both opposing and unified. The process of summarizing it was quite arduous, and because the theory of contradiction was not yet widespread at the time, the concept of "public" remained limited to the notions of the yamen and the imperial court.

In the ninth month of the nineteenth year of Wanli, the theory of contradiction had already become a prominent school of thought in Great Ming's learning. Because the theory of contradiction was jointly promoted by Zhang Juzheng and the Emperor, whether Zhang Juzheng was using the Emperor's name to promote his own theory was no longer important, because the Emperor approved of the methodology of the theory of contradiction.

Phenomenon, problem, cause, solution—this basic mode of discussion had already become the mainstream in Great Ming.

The definition of the public-private theory had been universally accepted. From the imperial court down to the workshops, all were "public," and corruption or seeking private gain through power were all damages to the public.

Whether it was the massive corruption of a minor clerk in the six offices of Shuntian Prefecture, or the memorial requesting a tax increase of ten wen per mu for the three-hundred-li Jimin Canal, all were similar public-private contradictions.

"When I first read books in my youth, my intelligence was not sharp and the meaning of the books was unclear. Today, looking at the theory of contradiction and the public-private theory again, I still gain much." Zhu Yijun used the vermilion brush to approve all the memorials, then reread the public-private theory, feeling that Confucius truly did not deceive people: "Reviewing the old to learn the new."

Having been Emperor for nineteen years, looking at the public-private theory again, he had gained many new insights and realizations, and his understanding of the contradictions between public and private had deepened significantly.

Feng Bao did not think His Majesty's intelligence was not sharp. The Emperor's continuous questioning—"I have doubts"—remained to this day a nightmare that Zhang Juzheng, that genius, could not shake off.

There were truly not many people in Great Ming who could force Zhang Juzheng into a corner regarding scholarship.

Zhang Juzheng writing the theory of contradiction and the public-private theory was entirely because he had been forced into a dead end by the Emperor's persistent questioning, leaving him no choice but to propose a new methodology to deal with the Emperor's inquiries.

"Your Majesty, under the rectification of Minister Gao, the atmosphere of the Hanlin Academy has changed. Recently, they have written several magnificent essays in succession, and I feel it is very necessary to present them for Your Majesty's perusal." Feng Bao, seeing that His Majesty had finished reviewing the memorials, hesitated slightly before taking out several miscellaneous gazettes.

His Majesty was already very diligent; after reviewing the memorials, he had reread the public-private theory to understand the contradictions between public and private. These miscellaneous gazettes were extra overtime.

Feng Bao truly did not want His Majesty to work overtime. It was already night, and several imperial consorts in the palace were waiting for His Majesty to flip their name tablets.

But after thinking it over, Feng Bao still took out the gazettes, because there was an imperial decree.

His Majesty did not want to abolish the Hanlin Academy and was very concerned about the situation of its rectification, ordering that he be informed as soon as there was progress. Feng Bao chose to obey the decree.

"Oh? Bring them here, bring them here." Zhu Yijun's face brightened upon hearing this. Gao Qiyu, this blade, was truly easy to use. How long had he been in office, and the Hanlin Academy already had a new appearance!

Regarding the matter of flipping name tablets, Zhu Yijun had not been particularly keen recently because the Empress, Wang Yaozhuo, was pregnant.

Wang Yaozhuo was not afraid of Zhu Yijun; sometimes, she would even argue with Zhu Yijun over the child's education. The relationship between the Emperor and the Empress was more like a husband and wife, but other concubines were very, very afraid of the Emperor, and their interactions were more like those between a ruler and a subject.

This led to a reality that made Zhu Yijun somewhat helpless: when these concubines served him, they were like dolls rather than real people, making Zhu Yijun feel as if he were about to suffer from the uncanny valley effect.

"Not bad, not bad. But have our Hanlin scholars set the standard for indigenous civilization too high?" Zhu Yijun picked up the first essay. This was a series of essays titled "On Civilization."

"It is indeed a bit high." Feng Bao also agreed with His Majesty's judgment, but the Hanlin scholars had such high standards.

It could be said that the Hanlin scholars were bad, but they were definitely not incompetent. The series of essays by the Hanlin scholars on civilization had a very complete logic.

This essay divided civilization into indigenous civilization and derivative civilization.

Indigenous civilization was one that grew on its own soil and whose heritage had never been severed, while derivative civilization was one that had been completely severed or simply inherited from elsewhere.

In the eyes of the Hanlin scholars, indigenous civilization was more than one level higher than derivative civilization, and there was even an essential difference.

The first essay in the "On Civilization" series was about writing.

Writing was the imprint of civilization and also an important standard for whether a civilization was indigenous or derivative.

Those with their own indigenous writing were indigenous civilizations; those without their own writing, needing to borrow, plagiarize, or adapt foreign writing, were derivative civilizations.

According to the standards of the Hanlin scholars, even Rome did not quite meet the specifications of an indigenous civilization, because Latin was also a type of writing derived from foreign borrowing and adaptation.

According to Great Ming's current understanding of Latin, Latin evolved from Greek.

The birth of writing, no matter where or when, must have started with murals.

In the eyes of the Hanlin scholars, murals were a type of important writing, a record of events that had occurred in history; murals were also a type of writing.

Murals gradually transformed into pictographs. The greatest characteristic of pictographs was that they resembled certain objects. For example, "cow" was a drawing of an actual cow. For example, the sacrificial terms in oracle bone script like "mao," "fa," "yi," "yue," and "zhao"—every character was vivid and lifelike.

The oracle bone script for "yi" (cutting off the nose) was a hook and a person, with the person's nose hanging on the hook.

"Yue" (cutting off the feet) was a person and a leg separated, with a knife in between.

The oracle bone script for "zhao" (castration) was even simpler and easier to understand: it was the punishment of castration, the removal of the yin, the third leg plus a knife, that was "zhao."

The lines of pictographs were too complex and difficult to use. Coupled with the lack of suitable recording tools in ancient times, pictographs would inevitably evolve toward angular cuneiform to facilitate carving on stones, tortoise shells, and bronze vessels.

Great Ming's research on oracle bone script also corroborated this point: the later the oracle bone script, the more angular it became.

By this time, a character would usually be endowed with more meanings by people. At this stage, strokes would also appear.

To make it easier for more people to use, cuneiform, which initially possessed abstract meaning, would gradually tend toward simplification.

And with this step, writing would gradually become standardized. Creating characters and words would become traceable, and writing, as the hub of cultural hubs, would maintain the great unification of culture.

Customs differ every ten li, and sounds differ every hundred li. Although local dialects were slightly different, writing still stitched Great Ming together completely.

It was not just China's development trajectory that was like this. Overseas merchants brought back a large number of gold and stone artifacts from the ancient Inca Empire. These cultural relics all depicted the oldest writing, which was also the historical evolutionary process of murals, pictographs, cuneiform, and ideographic and phonetic scripts.

Inca civilization belonged to a typical indigenous civilization, with its own indigenous writing and a clear evolutionary trajectory, but Inca civilization perished.

Inca civilization met the definition of an indigenous civilization, which might be one of the reasons why Minister Wan Shi could not forget the demise of the ancient Inca Empire.

And the Hanlin scholars attached a large pile of writing in the essay to explain the "heavenly defects and earthly deficiencies" of derivative civilizations.

For example, the Khitan script, Western Xia script, and Jurchen script (Northern Song and Jin script) that no one could understand today; the Korean Eonmun and Japanese Manyogana still in use; the English, Portuguese, French, and Spanish of the West, etc. —these were all typical derivative and secondary scripts.

These derivative scripts with heavenly defects and earthly deficiencies had many inconveniences in use.

For example, the Hanlin Academy focused on giving examples of the official scripts of the Liao State during the Song, Liao, and Jin eras: the Khitan Large Script and Small Script.

As the official script of the Liao State, the Khitan Large Script was created by Yelü Abaoji, the founding ruler of the Liao State, by imitating Chinese characters.

But from the beginning of its creation, this Large Script was destined to be used by no one. Imitating it to create it was simply a superfluous act.

Liao nobles and Han people all used Chinese characters, especially Liao nobles who took pride in using Chinese characters and looked down upon the Khitan Large Script.

The only Khitan bottom-layer poor people who had a need for Khitan writing did not have enough energy to learn this Khitan Large Script, which was completely useless most of the time.

Having no choice, in order to promote Khitan writing, the Liao State created the Khitan Small Script. Like Korean Eonmun and Japanese Manyogana, the Khitan Small Script was a phonetic notation for the Khitan Large Script.

The greatest characteristic of phonetic writing was that it was simple to learn, but the Liao State's imperial examinations and official documents all used Khitan Large Script and Chinese characters, which destined this phonetic writing to become a dead script after the Liao State collapsed.

Khitan Large Script and Khitan Small Script were always classified as dialects in writing.

Western Xia script and Jurchen script had similar fates. When the Liao, Western Xia, and Jin States existed, these scripts were not used by many people. After they perished, these scripts that no one recognized were more just traces proving that they had existed.

Korea's Eonmun had a similar fate. Korean nobles did not use Eonmun and all used Chinese characters. Only the bottom layer needed this kind of phonetic writing, and learning it was useless. Pharmacopoeias and legal codes were all written in Chinese characters. Learning phonetic scripts like Eonmun and Manyogana meant being a poor laborer for a lifetime.

The national character of an indigenous civilization was very high; it was the noble among nobles.

Among the countries that Great Ming currently had contact with, Great Ming could be considered the only country that could be called an indigenous civilization.

"According to the Hanlin Academy's statement, ideographic writing is for nobles, and phonetic writing is for poor ghosts?" Zhu Yijun frowned. He had systematically studied Latin and could listen to and understand Latin.

The Hanlin Academy was scolding the street, and it also scolded the Emperor.

Feng Bao took a deep breath and bowed his head, saying: "That is what the Hanlin scholars mean. Previously, a Hanlin scholar submitted a memorial saying that Your Majesty learning Latin was a loss of national dignity."

It was not that the Emperor had an excessive understanding; that was exactly what the Hanlin scholars thought. The Emperor of the majestic Heavenly Dynasty learning the writing of barbarians!

"They are lofty, they are amazing!" Zhu Yijun felt somewhat helpless upon hearing this. He remembered the twists and turns during the signing of the "Pan-Pacific Commercial Alliance Trade Regulations." If he did not learn Latin, these scholar-officials would dare to use the convenience of interpreters to fool the Emperor as if he were a fool!

"The Hanlin Academy is finally of some use. Issue the court gazette, front page." Zhu Yijun gave the Hanlin Academy the front-page headline; in fact, this series of articles from the Hanlin Academy, with their rigorous logic and ample evidence, explained a very, very important issue.

What is the Heavenly Dynasty?

And why is Great Ming the Heavenly Dynasty?

The Heavenly Dynasty was Great Ming's most important core interest, and there was not even one of them. Just like Spain, the title of "Empire on which the sun never sets" was its core interest.

The hostility between Great Ming and Spain was because Great Ming, after opening the seas, used its commodity advantage to crazily encroach upon the foundation of the title of "Empire on which the sun never sets."

The establishment of the Pan-Pacific Commercial Alliance was something the Emperor valued so much because if the Pan-Pacific Commercial Alliance operated properly, it would be a shift in offense and defense for Great Ming against the Western red-haired barbarians on the sea. It was a historical event where "the invaders can go, and I can also go"!

The Great Ming people who were in it actually did not realize what it represented, but looking at it from a millennial scale, once Great Ming seized the title of "Empire on which the sun never sets," it would be a great event that would benefit a thousand years.

Just like the decisive battle between Emperor Wu of Han and the Xiongnu, it was indeed somewhat exhausting of military strength at the time, but looking back from later generations, it was a legacy of a thousand years.

And the Hanlin Academy explained the definition of the Heavenly Dynasty and why Great Ming was it—these two questions were actually explaining the great life doubt of "Who am I?" It was very important and of great significance.

"However, arrogance is not allowed." Zhu Yijun used the vermilion brush to approve this miscellaneous gazette, transferring it from the miscellaneous gazette to the only official newspaper, the Di Bao. In addition to highly affirming the significance of this essay, the Emperor also made a clear instruction: arrogance is not allowed.

This handling by the Emperor looked a bit schizophrenic. If it had no value, why reprint it in the Di Bao? If it had high value, why was it still criticized by the Emperor?

It had value and reason, but one could not be arrogant—a contradictory and unified way of thinking.

Zhu Yijun flipped through all the essays Feng Bao presented. "On Civilization" was the most magnificent of the magnificent essays. The other essays were a bit inferior to this one, but they were all of great value.

For example, discussing the drawbacks of the "resident craftsman system." Resident craftsmen existed entirely by relying on the existence of official factories. If the official factories perished, the system perished; they prospered together and suffered together.

For example, discussing the changes in the Great Ming imperial court, cutting Great Ming history into four segments: before the Tumu Crisis in the fourteenth year of Zhengtong; from the fourteenth year of Zhengtong to the fifth year of Hongzhi; from the fifth year of Hongzhi to the first year of Wanli; and the Wanli Reform and after. This cutting method represented that the Great Ming imperial court had undergone changes in political logic.

This periodization was conducive to people understanding what actually happened at that time and why it happened.

For example, discussing the central-local contradiction, focusing on the dilemma of a rich imperial court and poor localities during the Wanli Reform process. This dilemma caused the awkward situation where major construction projects had to be led by the imperial court, and the role of local yamens in major construction projects was negative.

These several essays were very rich in content. The problems the Emperor noticed, these Hanlin scholars also noticed, and they analyzed them extremely deeply, fully demonstrating the fact that scholars had indeed read books.

"Aren't our Great Ming's pens quite powerful? What were they doing before? How come as soon as Minister Wan went, they all knew what to write?" Zhu Yijun looked at these miscellaneous gazette essays. Every one of them was substantive, and every one of them analyzed the new and old contradictions discovered during the Wanli Reform process.

Even the extravagant style in Songjiang Prefecture was among them. Every one of them was worth Zhu Yijun keeping by his side to ponder repeatedly.

But before, the Hanlin Academy did not have such essays.

"Before Minister Wan went, these essays were actually written, but they couldn't be published. People with talent could not have their ambitions realized, while those who were incompetent occupied high positions." Feng Bao explained the reason.

Gao Qiyu did not have such great ability to create something out of nothing. The Hanlin Academy was not entirely composed of people who only talked about nature and mind. However, in the past, talented people were forced into a corner by deep-seated bad habits and could not survive, so they could only leave the Hanlin Academy in disappointment.

After such screening, the Hanlin Academy was full of people who only talked about empty things.

Gao Qiyu arrived at the Hanlin Academy, took out all the accumulated essays from the past, and published several of them, and the atmosphere of the Hanlin Academy changed.

This job was easy to do, but also not easy to do. It was even a "radish pit" (a position created for a specific person), and only a "lone minister" like Gao Qiyu could do it.

Gao Qiyu had imperial favor and was not afraid of offending people. Anyway, His Majesty was still young, and he, Gao Qiyu, would definitely die before His Majesty. He would leave his posthumous affairs to His Majesty.

There were not many "lone ministers" in the Great Ming court. In the past, Hai Rui counted as one; now Gao Qiyu counted as one, Hou Yuzhao counted as one, and Wang Qian counted as half.

"It makes sense." Zhu Yijun approved of Feng Bao's statement.

"Your Majesty." Feng Bao looked at the moonlight and placed a stack of tablets in front of His Majesty. It was time to flip the tablets.

Zhu Yijun's hand circled the tablets, then he shook his head and said: "I am a bit tired, forget it."

He had finished reading the miscellaneous gazettes, and it was late at night, the third quarter of the Hai hour (around 10:45 PM), a moment when everything was silent. If he flipped the tablets now, and a concubine came from the palace to the imperial study to serve, it would be too late. It would toss everyone around so they couldn't rest, and he had to get up at the fifth watch to preside over the court meeting, so he was too lazy to flip them.

Even as an Emperor, he only had twelve hours a day. If he did these things, he couldn't do those things.

Strongman politics, after complex contradictions are reconciled, often evolves into a test of the strongman's physical health. Whoever lives long, whoever lives long, will be the final winner. If Yan Song hadn't been too old, Xu Jie wouldn't have been his opponent either.

"I obey the decree." Feng Bao wished he could slap himself. The concubines in the palace had big opinions about him, this great eunuch. They all felt that it was he, this great eunuch, who hadn't arranged the time well, which led to this situation.

Today it was an empty rotation again. The concubines were probably going to poke his spine and scold him again. These concubines were all masters, and Feng Bao couldn't afford to offend any of them, and the scolding was really ugly.

Heaven and earth are my witness, Feng Bao had really tried his best to arrange it, but His Majesty only had twelve hours.

The imbalance of water and drought was always worrying. The ninth month of the nineteenth year of Wanli was an unsettling month.

Originally, after the Mid-Autumn Festival, the weather should have turned cool, the autumn sky should have been high and crisp, and the autumn rain should have been continuous, but it was all light rain.

In the nineteenth year of Wanli, throughout the ninth month, Shuntian Prefecture had continuous heavy rain. The most severe time was from the night of the seventeenth to the eighteenth of the ninth month, when the rain poured down, and five inches fell in just one day!

You must know that the seventeenth year of Wanli was relatively dry, and Shuntian Prefecture only had five inches of rain for the whole year. As a result, on the eighteenth day, it rained the amount of the entire seventeenth year of Wanli.

The road from the Xishan Coal Bureau to the Xizhimen Coal Market was flooded. Having no choice, the Xishan Coal Bureau urgently activated the backup Guangningmen Coal Market. This was originally a road specially for the Emperor's internal department, the Xixin Si, to deliver coal. The Emperor issued a decree for civil use, plus the craftsmen carrying coal down the mountain, which ensured the coal supply in the capital.

Problems such as road interruptions, house collapses, relocation of people, rescue of property, guarding of embankments and dams, and urban waterlogging made the Emperor spend an exceptionally busy ninth month. Fortunately, the Shuntian Prefecture yamen had already completed the reform; otherwise, after this heavy rain, I don't know how many people would have suffered.

"The water in Taiye Pool almost flooded the Guanghan Hall on Qionghua Island in Xiyuan." Zhu Yijun looked at the memorial in front of him and said to the court officials with lingering fear.

At the court meeting on the morning of the twenty-first, various yamens summarized the losses from this heavy rain and presented them to the Emperor. As the Emperor, Zhu Yijun also felt the majesty of heaven this time.

The water pouring down from Xishan rushed into Taiye Pool. Xiyuan, the former residence of the Daoist master, was almost soaked by the water, which showed the power of this heavy rain.

In the imperial palace, the East Five Offices and West Five Offices were soaked by water, and even the Chengfu Palace, which was on lower ground, had three rooms collapse.

The imbalance of water and drought always poked the Great Ming Emperor and court officials from time to time, telling them not to be proud, not to be complacent, not to be intoxicated by the great success of the Wanli Reform, but to continue to work hard to regulate various contradictions and continue the reform to deal with the changes of heaven.

"Fortunately, the clerks and runners of the six offices of the Shuntian Prefecture yamen completed the reform; otherwise, I don't know how much chaos would have been caused." Grand Secretary Zhang Xueyan was also full of lingering fear. This heavy rain was a major test for the administration of the entire Shuntian Prefecture yamen. Although there were still losses, they were completely within an acceptable range.

Regarding the relocation of the people, after the Shuntian Prefecture official letter was issued, the county yamen decisively carried out a comprehensive relocation for hundreds of villages in the mountainous areas. Although some places were not affected by the disaster, the people in the low-lying areas who were relocated survived this heavy rain.

The reason for relocating the people was also simple: it had been raining for a month without stopping. Even if there hadn't been heavy rain, they would have had to relocate.

Regarding guarding the embankments and dams, the Jingying (Capital Battalion) dispatched three battalions to cooperate with Shuntian Prefecture's actions, completing the task of guarding the embankments during this heavy rain. Multiple water seepage points were blocked in time, causing no further casualties and losses.

These things would have been impossible to do without sufficient administrative power.

Before this major test, many people in the court had doubts about Yang Junmin's personal ability. After the heavy rain, this voice had completely disappeared, and no one doubted his ability anymore.

The clerks of the six offices were all lackeys of the powerful, which indeed affected the exertion of Yang Junmin's personal talent.

Of course, Yang Junmin finally got the hang of it. He ran to Tonghe Palace to ask for help, requesting to mobilize the Jingying to help guard the embankments and dams and maintain the basic stability of order, and requesting to open the imperial coal road for the people of the capital to use, all of which were granted by the Emperor.

After this incident, Yang Junmin also discovered that His Majesty didn't bother to use any "subordinate-controlling techniques" at all, such as not agreeing to two requests at once, or dragging things out to let the officials worry for a while before agreeing.

In fact, all "subordinate-controlling techniques" were to discipline subordinates not to make excessive demands. His Majesty's imperial prestige was rising day by day, and no official dared to do so, so there was no need to care about so many red tapes.

"This whole ninth month was heavy rain, and the seventeenth was even more of a heavy rain. Our court officials were not idle either; they launched a comprehensive attack on Wang Qian." Zhu Yijun held several memorials and shook his head, saying: "Send these court officials to Songjiang Prefecture to take a look, and then come back to report."

"At first, I also felt that Wang Qian's school rules and regulations were too harsh, but after understanding the situation, I felt that what he did was not excessive."

The court officials believed that Wang Qian's rectification of school style was too harsh. Even going to the toilet had to be done in a line like wild geese—you, Wang Qian, even manage this kind of thing? Some court officials even believed that Wang Qian, this kid, was simply domesticating the students.

Shen Shixing returned to the capital from Songjiang Prefecture as Provincial Governor. The first sentence he said to Zhang Juzheng was also: "People can be domesticated." The connotation reflected by this sentence is that society can be constructed.

The accusation of "domesticating students" became very serious. This was damaging the foundation of Great Ming's cultural context.

"No matter how you put it, even comparing the sachets on the pen rack, this extravagant style has blown into the academy. I still think it's inappropriate." Zhu Yijun still felt that the school rules and regulations had to be done. It was better not to let the style of comparison spread into the school.

"Your Majesty is wise. I believe that Wang Qian's move is not inappropriate; it is truly the ancestral law." Minister of Rites Shen Li stood out and took out the ancestral law to endorse Wang Qian's behavior.

"This is also the ancestral law?" Zhu Yijun was stunned and inquired carefully.

Shen Li hurriedly replied: "In the second year of Hongwu, when the world was first settled, Emperor Taizu first built the National Academy and instructed the officials of the Secretariat: 'Governing the country takes education as the priority, and education takes schools as the foundation.' He ordered all counties to establish schools, hire scholars, teach students, and discuss the holy way, so that people would be gradually transformed day by day and month by month, in order to restore the old ways of the former kings."

"In the fifteenth year of Hongwu, he issued school regulations to the National Academy and also issued twelve prohibitions to the world, engraved on a sleeping monument, placed to the left of the Hall of Minglun. Those who do not comply will be punished for violating the system!"

"In the sixteenth year of Hongwu, Taizu personally inspected it, and it was finalized after three changes. Students' robes were made of jade-colored cloth and silk, with wide sleeves and black edges, and black ribbons and soft scarves."

Unifying school attire was not Wang Qian's rebellion today, nor was it a new thing in the Wanli years, but the ancestral law.

As early as the sixteenth year of Hongwu, Taizu had clearly stipulated the clothing of students, and it was Taizu who personally looked at the style of the school uniform and finalized the standard of the robes after three modifications.

The purpose of unifying school attire back then and unifying attire during the Wanli Reform was the same: to make people gradually transformed day by day and month by month, to restore the old ways of the former kings, and for the prosperity of culture and education.

"So that's how it is." Zhu Yijun understood. Sure enough, the Minister of Rites must understand the rites and laws.

What Wang Qian did had been done before, but as private schools and family schools became popular, the schools established in various places gradually fell into disrepair, and these regulations slowly disappeared.

With the endorsement of the ancestral law, the attacks of these court officials became irrelevant. If you have the ability, go and reason with Emperor Taizu Gao!

Not to mention that Zhu Yijun didn't know much about it, Wang Qian, who did the work, didn't know much about it either. Wang Qian grew up in a family school.

"It's better to send these few censors to Songjiang Prefecture to take a look. If they still want to submit memorials, reply with the ancestral law. The Ministry of Revenue knows to do a good job of inspection to prevent corruption and evil things from happening." Zhu Yijun still decided to let the court officials go and see for themselves the horror of carrying 35,000 catties of rice on their backs to go to school.

I'm afraid these court officials will immediately turn from conservatives to radicals, feeling that what Wang Qian did was not enough.

"Your Majesty, Guizhou Provincial Governor Ye Mengxiong reports that Yang Yinglong is lawless and is obstructing Great Ming's flow officials from entering Bozhou." Minister of War Ceng Shengwu came out of the ranks and bowed his head, saying: "Your Majesty, Bozhou Regional Military Commissioner Yang Yinglong already has a heart of disobedience."

Great Ming carried out the reform of "replacing native officials with flow officials" in Bozhou, and the flow officials sent were all politely sent out of Bozhou. ===== CHAPTER 989 =====