Chapter 992: Loyal Bones Promised to the Monarch Early, Still Shining on the Old Saddle of the Past

Zhu Zhu Yijun looked at Han Han Qingde again before leaving the Golden Mountain Prefecture Southern Yamen prison with a group of people.

Zhu Zhu Yijun, the only Prince within the five degrees of kinship, could do whatever he wanted within the actual control range of Great Ming. He was the Emperor's only younger brother and was willing to come to the Golden Mountain Country to be enfeoffed, making his own contribution to Great Ming's opening of the seas.

As long as this fact remained, the Emperor would spare no effort to protect him.

Zhu Zhu Yijun sat on the high platform of the Zhengya Bell and Drum Tower. This was the highest point in Golden Shancheng, and he liked to sit here and watch the sunrise, sunset, and the tide.

He missed home a bit. This was not a weakness or a shame. As a member of the imperial family, running to a place like the Golden Mountain Country to be enfeoffed was suffering for him, but he was a bit reluctant to leave Golden Shancheng. He liked watching the Golden Mountain Country being built bit by bit from nothing.

"Your Highness, the weather is a bit cold." Meng Meng Jinquan took a large cloak and draped it over the Prince of Lu.

"Meng Jinquan, sitting in the position of the ruler, I finally know why my imperial brother is so cold and ruthless." Zhu Zhu Yijun muttered to himself, as if talking to Meng Meng Jinquan, or even more like talking to himself.

The Prince of Lu, who grew up peeing and playing with mud behind his imperial brother, had heard countless words since he was a child. He had forgotten these words as soon as he heard them, but now as the ruler of the Golden Mountain Country, those forgotten words suddenly came back to him, and they were like being carved into his brain.

His imperial brother once said: "If the broom doesn't reach, the dust won't run away by itself."

This looked like a nonsense sentence, but it actually revealed a fundamental truth: don't expect the vermin to repent and turn over a new leaf by themselves. You have to deal with them, otherwise, they won't die by themselves. You must have enough determination and courage to burn the bridges to clean up these dusts.

There were five cases in the Emperor Wanli Four Cases, and every case was personally executed by the Emperor himself, without entrusting it to others, personally going down to be the sweeper.

In the past, there were many, many bandits in Shandong. Shandong had unique natural endowments and could fully support all the people, but so many bandits were forced out.

When Zhao Mu's father colluded with his neighbors to kill the landlord's whole family, he didn't become a bandit, which was already worthy of everyone.

His imperial brother once said: "Power is wealth, affairs, people, and law, but in the final analysis, it is the violence that you can control yourself."

At that time, Zhu Zhu Yijun was still very young and had a greater interest in birds and beasts than in people. At that time, his imperial brother talked about the basic logic of power, and Zhu Zhu Yijun just listened and dealt with the monthly examinations. But today, Zhu Zhu Yijun's understanding of wealth, affairs, people, law, and violence was much more thorough.

Financial power, administrative power, personnel power, legal interpretation power, and control over violence—these five things were the five cornerstones of power.

As a ruler, if you couldn't control them all, then you had to completely control violence, and then slowly control a part of the other four powers.

His imperial brother once said: "The relationship between people constitutes small circles, and small circles constitute the big circle of Great Ming. Great Ming is public, and these countless small circles are private. Public and private are a contradictory and unified community."

That was what his imperial brother said when he taught him the public-private theory, to help Zhu Zhu Yijun understand the complex and relative concepts of public and private.

Even so, it was still a bit difficult for Zhu Zhu Yijun. It was not as interesting as assembling models. He had spent a full four months assembling

Zhu Zhu Yiliu, who was sheltered under the wings of his Imperial Brother, did not need to understand these things, but he still remembered these words. Today, he finally understood the original meaning of this sentence.

Within an organization, over time, one interest community after another maintained by hidden rules will form. These small circles will constantly encroach upon public interests to satisfy the desires of private cliques.

If a person wants to enter this small circle, they must pay a sufficient "letter of intent" (pledge of loyalty), must exploit those below them, act recklessly, be lawless, and commit acts that encroach upon public interests to satisfy the loyalty required by the small circle.

This is also why so many successful candidates and scholars—these clever people who are the dragons and phoenixes among men—have done so many seemingly stupid things.

Clearly, they could exercise the power in their hands more fairly, justly, and in greater compliance with public order, good customs, and the law, yet they insist on knowingly breaking the law.

That is not stupidity; it is the effort to squeeze into the small circle, and it is the concrete manifestation of those hidden rules.

And often, in the process of development, these small circles will gradually run counter to the mission and interests of the Great Ming, the largest collective.

Because for these small circles to obtain more privileges, the first step they must take is to muddy the waters. Only by completely muddying the waters can they fish in troubled ones. In short, it is to start fighting.

Only when the water is muddy and fighting begins can they pick the peaches, obtain sufficient benefits, and distribute them to the people in the circle. Only in this way can the existence of the circle be maintained.

The existence of a circle is to maintain the overall interests of everyone within it, and often the internal exploitation of this circle will be even more intense than that of the "Public," the largest circle.

Because there is no supervision within a small circle.

When a circle cannot maintain the interests of the circle, there is no need for this circle to exist—for example, the Jin Party, or the Brother Jinshan gentry of the Brother Jinshan State.

The existence of the Brother Jinshan gentry is to maintain the interests of all the gentry exiled to the Brother Jinshan State, so they must maintain the interests of their own circle through things like defying the Prince of Lu.

The Brother Jinshan gentry's "sitting on the ground and raising prices" is actually just asserting their own authority and demanding more benefits to distribute to the people in the circle, and those "ghosts" who act as accomplices are all people who want to squeeze into the circle.

Port development is beneficial to everyone in the Brother Jinshan State, but the Brother Jinshan gentry want to take the biggest bite and also make the Prince of Lu pay for it. The Brother Jinshan gentry took advantage and still want to become the victims.

If this were in the hinterland of the Great Ming, this would be perfectly normal, and the usual solution would be to feed them a little through negotiation;

But this is the Brother Jinshan State, a place the size of a palm with only a few gold mines; it cannot afford to support a small circle.

At two silver per mu, Zhu Zhu Yiliu would have accepted it; at twelve silver per mu, Zhu Zhu Yiliu could only kill them.

A person must learn: do not overeat, stop when it is enough.

In the eleventh month, Zhu Zhu Yiliu conducted a public trial and public execution for the entire case, making all the details of the case fully public. What made Zhu Zhu Yiliu angry was that these remnants actually dared to curse his Imperial Brother! And what made the people of the Brother Jinshan State angry was that these people actually obstructed the development of the Brother Jinshan State!

His Highness the Prince of Lu had arrived, and instead of embarking on major construction to renovate the Prince of Lu's mansion, he built a port. To satisfy the massive throughput of goods coming and going after the establishment of the Pan-Pacific Commercial Alliance, how many people could be supported after the port expansion was completed?!

Yet the Brother Jinshan gentry, in order to eat one more bite, actually insisted on forcing the Prince of Lu to bow his head. This was not forcing the Prince of Lu to bow his head; it was forcing all the people of the Brother Jinshan State to yield profits to them and support them!

Amidst the angry curses, Han Han Qingde and his ilk were dragged to the execution ground. The executioner was waiting for His Highness the Prince of Lu's order for beheading.

On the twelfth day of the eleventh month, the weather was not very good. Zhu Zhu Yiliu did not wait until the hour of the horse (noon) and threw out the command arrow, ordering them to be beheaded and displayed to the public.

Before Han Han Qingde died, he suddenly thought of his father. His father had, of course, also taught him the principle of stopping when it is enough, but he had forgotten, because his father had also forgotten.

Actually, when Quan Quan Tianpei found him and talked to him about lowering the price back to the first negotiation, he had already decided to agree, but he wanted to stretch it out a bit more, which thoroughly angered the Prince of Lu.

The scions of the imperial house are indeed concerned with "face," but it is even more of a loss of face for scions of the imperial house to be defied like this without taking action. Noble people do not allow themselves to be defied even more.

"Click."

The bone-prying knife pried open his spine. Han Han Qingde immediately lost control of his limbs. He knew he was already dead. As the blade rose and fell, he felt a sense of the world spinning. In his final consciousness, he felt hatred toward his father.

He hated his father for being so bold and reckless, for not leaving the scene in time after earning enough profit, hated his father for not knowing when to stop, and hated his father for being insatiably greedy and gambling the entire treasury of Pingliang Prefecture on the gold and silver market.

A great drought caused too many people to starve to death, incurring the "wrath of thunder," and along with it, he was also exiled to this kind of barbaric land.

On the thirteenth day of the eleventh month, the heavens wept.

Dark clouds drifted from the horizon. Within the dark clouds, lightning flashed and thunder rumbled. Beneath the dark clouds, the sea waves were surging. Violent sea waves lashed against the port. All the ships had already hidden inside the Brother Jinshan inner sea to avoid this storm. The gale was roaring, and even the street trees by the road were uprooted.

Rain and heat occurring at different times is the typical climate of Brother Jinshan City.

Brother Jinshan City is a natural fine port because there is only a three-li-long outlet to the sea at Cape Fort. This Brother Jinshan Strait, less than three li wide, blocked the violent storms of the East Pacific, and within this sea outlet, there is a bay with an area of up to 1.6 million mu, providing sufficient shelter for ships.

Within the bay, one can raise fish, fish, and cultivate kelp, seaweed, etc., and the entire Brother Jinshan City is also being built around this inner sea bay.

In the first year of His Highness the Prince of Lu's arrival in the Brother Jinshan State, he beheaded Xie Xie Ruixiang, the commander of the "tooth soldiers" who colluded with the Red-Haired Barbarians. Relying on the formidable combat power of the navy, he expanded the control range of Brother Jinshan City by 120 li, forced the Mexico Viceroy's Office to pay 300,000 silver in tribute every year, armed-patrolled the three major viceroy's offices of the East Pacific, and then beheaded these profit-seeking Brother Jinshan gentry who were pushing for more.

These were the "three fires" after His Highness the Prince of Lu arrived in the Brother Jinshan State. After these three fires were burned, the Brother Jinshan State formed a ruling class with the Prince of Lu as the absolute core and absolute authority, presiding over the affairs of the Brother Jinshan State.

The Prince of Lu is a scion of the imperial house; even if he himself were a good-for-nothing, he would still obtain the status he deserves. Behind him is the entire Great Ming. It is just that the Prince of Lu is not a good-for-nothing and did these things even better.

Everything was very smooth. The only thing that made Zhu Zhu Yiliu uncomfortable was that he had to do things all day long, and he was almost no different from a donkey in a mill!

The words he used to mock his Imperial Brother back then had struck him right between the eyebrows, unchanged!

"If you send more official documents, I'm going back to the Great Ming! Don't send any more!" After Zhu Zhu Yiliu finished processing today's official documents, he patted the table and said loudly, "Does this 'Old Five Wang' stealing 'Old Three Zhao's' chicken also need me to handle it? What is your Brother Jinshan Prefecture Southern Yamen for?"

Quan Quan Tianpei hurriedly said, "Your Highness, it is because of this chicken that the Wang Village and the Zhao Village had an armed fight. There were over three hundred people present, three were beaten to death, and over sixty were injured."

Quan Quan Tianpei protected these Brother Jinshan gentry not because he had any interest exchanges with these gentry. He also had a way out; His Majesty had once personally promised him that if things became impossible, he could return to the Great Ming, and the Great Ming would find another way to expand.

Quan Quan Tianpei managed the gold mines and also managed the distribution of Great Ming goods. This was where the greatest interests of the Brother Jinshan State lay. The bit of silver from colluding with the gentry was simply not worth mentioning.

Quan Quan Tianpei protected the gentry to protect the basic stability of the lower levels of the Brother Jinshan State. If there were gentry, things like stealing a few chickens would not have escalated into this large-scale armed fight.

These gentry are not good at anything else, but when it comes to human relationships and worldly wisdom, they are absolutely extremely proficient.

The Prince of Lu naturally understood this principle, so he agreed to the gentry's request during the first negotiation, but the second price hike forced the Prince of Lu into a corner.

"And you blame me? If I don't go and clean them up, tomorrow they will be riding on my neck and doing whatever they want!" Zhu Zhu Yiliu rubbed his forehead with some dissatisfaction. Ever since the gentry were arrested, small conflicts evolving into major clashes had occurred one after another.

"Your Highness, this subject has a strategy." Seeing that His Highness had a headache, Meng Meng Jinquan took out a memorial and placed it in front of the Prince of Lu.

"Oh?" Zhu Zhu Yiliu's eyes lit up. He opened the memorial and read it for a long time. This memorial was truly complex if one said it was complex, with nearly five thousand words flowing freely, but if one said it was simple, it could be summarized in two words: Qin System.

Based primarily on military merit, establish a system of twenty ranks of nobility to reconstruct the overall order of the Brother Jinshan State, and at the same time, match the high and low of the twenty ranks to determine the regulations for fields and courtyards.

Clarify the ranks of nobility and status, and name fields and courtyards according to the differences.

Taking Shang Yang's Reform as the main body, combined with the current status of the Brother Jinshan State, formulate a complete set of legal systems.

"The Earl of Brother Jinshan should also take a look." Zhu Zhu Yiliu handed the memorial to Quan Quan Tianpei. The more Quan Quan Tianpei read, the more frightened he became. He had underestimated Meng Meng Jinquan; this scholar's heart, liver, spleen, and lungs were all black.

For the Brother Jinshan State, where private fighting is greater than public fighting, internal pressure is greater than external pressure, and expansion is greater than management, this system was most appropriate. But once this system came out, one didn't know how many barbarians would die, because what determined the rank of nobility was the heads of the barbarians.

It truly is "one general succeeds, ten thousand bones wither."

"I don't quite agree with this system, but at the moment, it is the most appropriate." Quan Quan Tianpei cautiously expressed his attitude: opposed in principle, but in agreement in practice.

This method of the Qin State is most suitable for poor countries. At this very moment, the Brother Jinshan State is the poorest of the poor. The method of killing to establish military merit and determining social status, fields, and courtyards is too suitable for expansion.

"What does Commander Luo think?" Zhu Zhu Yiliu took back the memorial and handed it to Luo Luo Shangzhi.

"If Your Highness thinks it is feasible, then it is feasible." Luo Luo Shangzhi did not look at the memorial. After answering Zhu Zhu Yiliu's question first, he opened the memorial. The flowery language looked a bit troublesome, but Luo Luo Shangzhi still understood it, and he saw some problems.

However, Luo Luo Shangzhi did not say anything. He was a general commissioned by His Majesty to protect the Prince of Lu. After his three-year term expired, he would return to the Great Ming and go to Nanyang to serve as the Regional Commander of the Nanyang Navy. Regarding the affairs of the Brother Jinshan State, Luo Luo Shangzhi had always acted on orders.

This method is good, but the only bad thing is: there is no sufficient system to prevent the loss of control of violence.

Meng Meng Jinquan looked at Luo Luo Shangzhi's expression and felt somewhat helpless. The main purpose of him bringing out this Qin Fa was not the heads of the barbarians, but Luo Luo Shangzhi himself—to be precise, he wanted to keep Luo Luo Shangzhi in the Brother Jinshan State.

The flaws in the memorial, or rather the lack of sufficient constraints on the army, were intended to let Luo Luo Shangzhi see the benefits of being a Grand General in the Brother Jinshan State—almost doing whatever he wanted.

But Luo Luo Shangzhi was completely unmoved.

"Why don't Luzon, Jiugang, Elder Jinchi, and other places use the Qin Fa?" Zhu Zhu Yiliu asked his own question. This system is so suitable for expansion, yet Luzon, Jiugang, and Elder Jinchi do not use this method.

Meng Meng Jinquan deliberated slightly and said in a low voice, "Your Highness, the Brother Jinshan State is a vassal state of the Great Ming, and it is still different from the Viceroy's Office. Several viceroys have their own concerns."

The Prince of Lu's fief is a division of the family, while the Viceroy's Office is the Great Ming's Viceroy's Office; the nature is completely different.

Meng Meng Jinquan carefully reminded His Highness the Prince of Lu that the several Viceroy's Offices were not unaware, nor were they unwilling, but they could not do it. They could not act recklessly; otherwise, their descendants would find it as difficult as ascending to heaven to return to the Great Ming, and they would slowly be assimilated into the local barbarians.

In order to avoid the "degeneration" mentioned by Yin Yin Zongxin, the viceroys of the various Viceroy's Offices dared not act so recklessly. This thing called the Qin System is somewhat of a taboo.

Zhu Zhu Yiliu's status is different. No matter how recklessly he acts, he will not incur the imperial wrath or the wariness of His Majesty. The descendants of the Prince of Lu's mansion can return to the Great Ming no matter what, avoiding the problem of the degeneration of local colonization.

"In that case, then Chief Clerk Meng will be responsible for this matter." Zhu Zhu Yiliu synthesized the opinions of all parties and confirmed Meng Meng Jinquan's advice: implement the Qin Fa and Qin System, with military merit leading the way.

The Central Plains dynasty had walked this path of expansion for over four thousand years. How to walk it—the ancestors had long since paved the way.

The reason why the Luzon, Jiugang, and Elder Jinchi Viceroy's Offices do not use this method is also very simple. They are not poor; they are not far from the Great Ming. They are the most important link in the small triangular trade, the receiving place for Japanese slaves and barbarian slaves, and the raw material production base. They are wealthy enough and do not need to use this method.

For the Prince of Lu, this was simply a matter of having no other choice.

The Brother Jinshan State lacks a sufficiently weighty core of national construction. He, Zhu Zhu Yiliu, is the core of authority, but the system is another core. For the poorest of the poor, the Brother Jinshan State can only use this method to divide social classes and then distribute benefits.

Quan Quan Tianpei and Luo Luo Shangzhi chose to leave. Meng Meng Jinquan and Zhao Mu remained in the Imperial Study of the Prince of the Blood Hall. Meng Meng Jinquan handed the second half of the memorial to His Highness the Prince of Lu. How to constrain violence is the experience and lessons summarized by the Central Plains dynasty over a thousand years. Meng Meng Jinquan naturally had a design.

"Your Highness, if we cannot keep Commander Luo, this will be a huge loss for the Brother Jinshan State. This subject dares to speak: once Commander Luo leaves, I fear there will be chaos." Meng Meng Jinquan sighed heavily. Luo Luo Shangzhi's departure after his three-year term expires will be the greatest test since the establishment of the Brother Jinshan State, even a life-and-death test.

"I also want to keep him, but Commander Luo's ambition does not lie here. Every time we discuss matters, Commander Luo always acts on orders." Zhu Zhu Yiliu said somewhat helplessly, "My Imperial Brother promised me almost all my requests, except for Commander Luo remaining in Brother Jinshan."

Zhao Mu pondered for a moment and said in a low voice, "Your Highness, you can promise Commander Luo that within five years, we will take Mexico!"

"Returning to Nanyang, Commander Luo would only be dealing with the Annam State. The Japanese State is already gasping for breath, and the Mughal State is a cesspool. Moreover, the key is that so far, no silver mines have been discovered in the entire West, but Mexico has silver mines, and there are three of them, each of which can be mined for hundreds of years."

"Commander Luo craves military merit."

Luo Luo Shangzhi does not crave power without any restrictions; that is something that simply does not exist.

His Majesty has firmly bound himself to the dragon chair. As time has passed, His Majesty and the imperial power represented by the dragon chair have become one. General Qi, as the Duke of Duke Fengguo, still strictly constrains his followers and dares not have any act of usurpation, except for a "Young Master Huang" who likes to cause trouble.

Meng Meng Jinquan used his strength in the wrong direction. Zhao Mu was born in the ranks; he clearly knew that young generals crave merit.

In the great trend of the Emperor Wanli Reform and the great change of opening the seas, seizing three stable silver-producing mines for the Great Ming is a great merit that will win a hundred years of national fortune for the Great Ming. It is impossible for Luo Luo Shangzhi not to be tempted!

Within two to three hundred years, it is absolutely impossible for the Great Ming to get rid of precious metal currency. The "Coinage Law" is still the fundamental national policy of the Great Ming. Gold and silver banknotes are an important supplement. Gold and silver banknotes are silver-standard convertible paper money, and their foundation is still precious metals like gold and silver.

General Qi can be the Duke of Duke Fengguo; does he, Luo Luo Shangzhi, not want to be the Duke of Zhenhai?

"Meng Jinquan, look, you are not in the ranks, so you don't understand what Commander Luo thinks. Zhao Mu, you spoke very well." Zhu Zhu Yiliu immediately determined that Zhao Mu's suggestion was effective.

Viceroy Peito of the Mexico Viceroy's Office is indeed very submissive, but it is more reassuring to have the mining areas in the hands of the Great Ming itself.

"I will go and talk to Commander Luo in detail." Zhu Zhu Yiliu immediately stood up and headed to the Grand General's Mansion. This Grand General's Mansion was specially built for Luo Luo Shangzhi by Zhu Zhu Yiliu's order, and Zhu Zhu Yiliu had also arranged for many beauties from all nations to be in the mansion.

But Luo Luo Shangzhi did not like beauties from all nations, nor did he like gold, silver, or treasures.

When Zhu Zhu Yiliu arrived at the Grand General's Mansion, he checked the time. This point was exactly Luo Luo Shangzhi's time for practicing martial arts. He did not let the palace attendants shout that the Prince of Lu had arrived, but instead headed to the drill ground of the Grand General's Mansion.

Luo Luo Shangzhi was wearing full iron armor, and in his hand was a twelve-foot steel spear. The steel spear was held horizontally in front of him like a dragon ready to strike. Unlike the refined and easygoing manner in the Prince of the Blood Hall, at this moment, Luo Luo Shangzhi was filled with a murderous aura.

Luo Luo Shangzhi had no background in the army. He was neither the guest soldier of Li Li Chengliang of Liaodong, nor the horse soldier of "Master Ma" Ma Fang of the Northwest, and even less the southern soldier of Qi Qi Jiguang. Born as a company commander, he had no silver to bribe for promotion. All he had was his martial strength, relying on the blood-drinking spear tip and the remaining warmth of blood-courage to reach where he was today.

"Hah!"

The spear shot out like a dragon!

A violent shout tore through the silence in the drill ground. The spear tip whistled through the air, its momentum like a dragon raising its head, carrying the power of thunder, and stabbed out fiercely.

Luo Luo Shangzhi shook his arms and swung the steel spear in his hand. The fallen leaves and gravel under his feet moved with the wind of the spear. Before the spear tip fell, the long spear had already swept up diagonally from bottom to top, tearing through the fallen leaves. His waist and abdomen exerted force together, the spear like a dragon following his body as he retreated, and then a cold light stabbed out again, as fast as lightning.

Zhu Zhu Yiliu had practiced martial arts since he was a child. Watching this scene, the corners of his eyes twitched. Stabbing, sweeping, lifting, retreating, stabbing—these five simple moves, he, Zhu Zhu Yiliu, could not block even one. This sense of oppression, from several zhang away, rushed toward his face.

"Split Mount Hua with force!"

Luo Luo Shangzhi's tongue bloomed like spring thunder, his voice like a deep bell. The spear shaft tightened violently in his hands, carrying the force of a thousand jun, drawing an arc of light, and crashed down.

Only a muffled "bang" was heard. The spear tip smashed toward the stone block placed on the table. The stone block shattered at the sound, raising a cloud of dust. The spear tip was still trembling, humming and vibrating.

Finally, Luo Luo Shangzhi finished performing the thirty-six moves of the spear technique and stood in a closing stance, like a pine or bamboo, nailed to the spot like an iron tower. This was Luo Luo Shangzhi's "stake-standing" skill, practiced for over twenty-three years.

"Good, good, good!" After watching the martial arts performance, Zhu Zhu Yiliu walked into the drill ground, clapping his hands, and said with great emotion, "With a peerless hero like the General in the Great Ming, why worry that it won't flourish?"

"Greetings, Your Highness." Luo Luo Shangzhi had actually seen the Prince of Lu while performing, but he was in the middle of it and it was not good to stop. When the Prince of Lu walked closer, he hurriedly paid his respects. Actually, the Prince of Lu doing this was a bit dangerous, as he had already entered Luo Luo Shangzhi's attack range.

Luo Luo Shangzhi's long spear could not only be danced but also thrown. Although Zhu Zhu Yiliu was not a "wine bag and rice sack," he definitely could not dodge it.

But His Majesty and the Prince of Lu, these two brothers, had never had this kind of distance since they were young. When fierce generals like Qi Qi Jiguang, Li Li Rusong, Ma Fang, and Ma Lin practiced martial arts, His Majesty never minded the act of usurpation of seeing him while not in battle armor.

After paying his respects, Luo Luo Shangzhi put away the steel spear, took off his iron armor, and then returned to the drill ground to pay his respects again.

"I have made Your Highness laugh. With firearms in vogue, practicing martial arts is mostly to strengthen the muscles and bones, forge the physique, and promote perseverance." Luo Luo Shangzhi was quite humble. His martial arts were indeed powerful, but the times had changed. Even wearing heavy armor, one could not block nine-jin cannons and flintlock muskets. One shot from a "Pingyi" musket was always accurate.

Zhu Zhu Yiliu signaled for Luo Luo Shangzhi not to be overly formal and to sit down and talk.

His Imperial Brother once said: Weapons are ultimately used by people. If the people are no good, no matter how good the weapons are, it won't work.

Even in the age of firearms, Luo Luo Shangzhi could still shine brilliantly. "Perseverance" is a very precious virtue. Zhu Zhu Yiliu could see the words "magnanimity" and "perseverance" in Luo Luo Shangzhi.

In battles like Pyongyang, Kaesong, Hancheng, Incheon, and Busan, if it weren't for Luo Luo Shangzhi, Zhao Ji, and others who were the first to storm the enemy lines and pry open these "turtle shells," the Great Ming's first war against the Japanese pirates would not have gone so smoothly. Firearms are like adding wings to a tiger; the Great Ming army has always been a fierce tiger, it's just that before, they didn't even have half their rations and couldn't eat their fill.

"Commander Luo, I have come this time to ask Commander Luo to stay. I am preparing to take Mexico." Zhu Zhu Yiliu sat up straight, using the royal "I" to tell Luo Luo Shangzhi his determination. The Red-Haired Barbarians are also barbarians, and the Brother Jinshan State is destined to be built on the heads of barbarians.

Zhu Zhu Yiliu did not beat around the bush and explained his purpose. The system of military merit, nobility, and fields, plus the elite soldiers of the navy, and the command of Lou Hu, the head of the White Tiger—these were the conditions Zhu Zhu Yiliu gave to Commander Luo.

"Your Highness, I returned to the Great Ming to repay the vast imperial grace; I have no other thoughts." Luo Luo Shangzhi shook his head. If His Majesty needs him, he will return. If His Majesty needs him to occupy Mexico, he is also willing to act as Bai Qi and kill until the blood flows like a river.

"Iron clothes torn to shreds to repay the monarch's promise, when the tiger tally breaks, the Jade Pass is cold;"

"Crossing the Qilian snow at night with bits in our mouths, throwing heads to startle the Tianshan moon."

"Whale waves rage and roll by the side of the tower ship, willing to use my remaining body to guard the sea waves;"

"Loyal bones long promised before the monarch, still illuminating the old saddle of that year."

Luo Luo Shangzhi is a man from Zhejiang. He was not originally in the navy but was a Regional Commander of Datong in the Northwest, with considerable military merit in suppressing the Western Tatars, and later fought on the maritime frontiers. These four lines of poetry are the portrayal of his life and also the gift from His Majesty.

In the nineteenth year of Emperor Jiajing, before Mao Bowen conquered Annam, the Emperor Jiajing Emperor wrote a seven-character regulated poem, "Sending Off Mao Bowen." Giving poems to officials and generals going on expeditions can be considered an ancestral practice of the Great Ming emperors.

His Majesty is not good at poetry, and the poetry has no rhythm to speak of, and even the most basic antithesis has some problems, but Luo Luo Shangzhi likes this one very much.

It is not that Luo Luo Shangzhi is tactless. He bowed again and said, "If His Majesty has an order, this subject is willing to brave the thorns and waves and return to Brother Jinshan."

Zhu Zhu Yiliu's approach was a bit like prying at his Imperial Brother's wall, but he couldn't pry it at all. Not being able to pry it was as it should be. As one of the 132 stars of the eastern expedition, if he could be pried away by fame and fortune, he would not be "Lou Hu."

Admittedly, Luo Luo Shangzhi craves military merit, but this craving is lower than his loyalty.

Loyal ministers and good generals must be cultivated by oneself; there is no shortcut.