[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-i-really-am-not-neglecting-my-duties":3,"chapter-i-really-am-not-neglecting-my-duties-i-really-am-not-neglecting-my-duties-chapter-999":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","I Really Am Not Neglecting My Duties",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2364268,4622,"Chapter 999: Kill the Bad, Kill the Good, Kill Yourself Too?","i-really-am-not-neglecting-my-duties-chapter-999",999,"\u003Cp>The Wanli Reforms succeeded because they discarded even the Confucian facade, embracing only Legalist bones and rebellious bones.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Confucianism venerates the laws of the Three Dynasties and ancestral precedents; the Reforms advocate adapting to the times and refusing blind obedience to ancestors; Confucianism teaches that dividing the family is unfilial, so it promotes farming and reading as hereditary values, but the Reforms forbid powerful clans that threaten imperial authority—either grant enfeoffment to divide the family, or execute the entire lineage.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Confucianism demands the emperor govern by mere presence; the Wanli Reforms place an authoritarian figure as the absolute core.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Confucianism holds that scholarship is the highest pursuit; the Reforms promote military merit, titles, land grants, multiple pathways to advancement, pluralism, and the contention of a hundred schools; Confucianism prioritizes human sentiment over law and rule by man over rule by law; the Reforms insist that policies issued from the Wenhua Hall must be executed without compromise, and that law supersedes sentiment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ling Yunyi’s son sold his father’s lifetime of glory for seventy thousand taels of silver; Ling Yunyi would rather retire than let the emperor not investigate to the end.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His Majesty has been extraordinarily fortunate: besides his own resolve and strength, he has Zhang Juzheng and the vast Zhang faction for civil governance, Qi Jiguang and a disciplined elite Beijing garrison and naval forces, plus the immense profits from overseas expansion—only through these has he stumbled forward to this point.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>During a dynastic transition, one might act more fiercely; but in reforming the old and establishing the new, this is already the limit of the Great Ming’s institutional framework.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The censors sent to Songjiang Prefecture ruined the students there; at least in public opinion, these censors devised the policy requiring students to undergo military training—a notion the Ming literati found utterly incomprehensible—but the decree was still implemented after imperial approval.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In March, these dozen censors returned to the capital and were blocked at the gates of the Censorate by scholar-officials demanding to know why they had betrayed them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The censors’ reply was striking: their leader answered only one sentence—change must be made, or future academies will produce only cowards, not heroes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At Tianma Academy, the child who was killed had been bullied for months; when he was finally beaten to death, not a single student stood up to protect him, not one dared to denounce the abuse—all chose silence.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To these censor-officials, there is no such thing as indifference or selfish detachment; selfishness is merely an excuse for cowardice.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If academies produce only such weak cowards, what hope remains for the Great Ming?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The censors offered no further explanation; the scholar-officials dared not go to the Huangji Gate to plead with His Majesty to rescind the order—this became part of the Dinghai Educational System.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The scholar-officials blocked the censors mainly because they feared this decree would spread from Songjiang to Shuntian Prefecture, forcing their own children to suffer the same fate—and soon, their fears came true.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Shuntian and Songjiang Prefectures, as pilot regions, implemented the decree together.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The aristocratic playboys of the capital were thrown into the Beijing Garrison, brutally trained by the Grand General and His Majesty; though the training regimen had been reduced from that of the elite troops, these pampered nobles still screamed and wept in agony.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cowardice will not be tolerated!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In fact, until the students from all capital academies were sent to the garrison, Zhu Yijun had not grasped the severity of the problem; only when he personally began training them did he realize he had waited too long—he should have done this long ago.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The future of the Great Ming, these eight-o’clock suns, were even more cowardly than some aged scholars.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even aged scholars occasionally dare to rebuke the emperor, calling him wise and mighty—though such conduct violates propriety—but these students are too weak: facing injustice, they submit passively; facing inequality, they turn a blind eye; facing lawlessness, they watch coldly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhu Yijun issued an edict to intensify training, raising the regimen to elite-troop levels and extending the initial training period to six months.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Such a spectacle in the capital could not escape the notice of the red-haired foreigner Li Yashih; on March 24, with imperial permission, Li Yashih, as a Tongshi of the Honglu Temple, arrived at the Beijing Garrison with a host of foreign envoys to witness firsthand the training of Shuntian students.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Back at the Sanyi Pavilion, Li Yashih could not calm his emotions; after long contemplation, he began writing his *Travels in the Great Ming*.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>*Travels in the Great Ming* is Li Yashih’s magnum opus, updated over seventeen years, now the most sought-after bestseller among Western nobility, for it contains the most authentic Great Ming.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Yashih spread out ink, brush, paper, and inkstone, took up the imperial-gifted steel pen, pondered long, then began writing—he first penned it in Chinese, then translated it into Latin to ensure accuracy; in his travelogue he wrote:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>【The Great Ming Emperor commands an army morally worthy of being called Sacred Warriors; now, the supreme emperor appears to have discovered a method to transform trash into Sacred Warriors.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This is more miraculous than alchemy, for these trained children have undergone fundamental transformation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Some students, before training, were mere rough stones; yet within a single month, they became uncarved jade.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The seeds of the Eight Virtues have taken root in their hearts, sprouted, blossomed, and borne fruit—this transformation has become inevitable.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These six months of training will become a lifelong treasure; these experiences are embedded in their memories, ultimately granting them a life utterly different from the one they once knew.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Justice will prevail—this has never been a lie.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Imagine your superior transforming from a morally upright, devout, rigid, and highly skilled junior officer into a shameless, amoral, untrained ruffian—your army’s combat effectiveness will inevitably plummet.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pursuing noble morality has never been a mistake.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Your Majesty, noble sovereign, has dragged the Great Ming from the mire and, through the Dinghai Educational System, has raised the bar for the Wanli Reforms.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet the West cannot even form a loose commercial alliance to resist Great Ming’s maritime pressure, let alone aspire to higher spiritual ideals.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At this historical crossroads, all Westerners—will you frivolously and blindly let your adversary decide your fate?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This is a great tragedy, yet I am powerless.】\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Yashih finished today’s diary; his travelogue was, in truth, his daily journal of life in the Great Ming, later carefully compiled into a volume—he did not know why anyone would find it interesting, for it was full of complaints.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet when Ming publishers printed his travelogue, every copy reaching the West was snapped up; even in Lisbon, Portugal, a profession of manuscript copying emerged—Ming-printed editions were mass-transcribed in Lisbon workshops, and the copies spread throughout the West.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Merely through this single travelogue, he was already hailed as a great literary figure, the ender of the old religion, and the dawn of a new age.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For in his travelogue, Li Yashih wrote numerous criticisms of religion, detailing how Chinese imperial authority had triumphed over divine authority.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The Beijing Garrison’s training method possesses the power to transform decay into wonder, yet this method is unsuitable for the West.” Li Yashih, now fifty-four, was growing old, too feeble to undertake another global voyage back to his homeland.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He longed to transmit this training method to the West through writing; the method was entirely public, detailed in the *New Treatise on Military Efficiency*; Felipe had intended to translate it into Latin but abandoned the idea—for an orange grown south of the Huai remains an orange, while one grown north of the Huai becomes a bitter trifoliate orange; it is the difference in soil and water.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This training method grew from the soil of the Great Ming; even if one tried to learn it, one could not master it—some paths must be walked, some truths must be discovered alone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Yashih flipped through a miscellany, summarized its contents, and recorded them in his travelogue; the miscellany was *The People’s Gazette*, which published an article on Hanlin scholars’ research into oracle bone script.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In Shang royal sacrifices, offerings of Qiang people and livestock were made to ancestors, asking whether calamity would come; in early oracle bones, these were questions posed by diviners to heaven—but later oracle bones show the Shang king himself performing divination; this shift completed the details of imperial authority’s final victory.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>By the middle and late Shang dynasty, the king had monopolized all interpretation of divination.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Yashih recorded this transformation in his travelogue; he did not know how it would affect the West, but he felt it was useful, so he wrote it down.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Yashih also clarified a misconception here: when he first arrived in the Great Ming, he found it strange that Ming books were of such poor quality.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He assumed this was because the Great Ming lacked advanced bookmaking techniques.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ming paper was thin, and Ming ink was cheap—not like Western oil ink.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was entirely a misunderstanding; the Great Ming produced exquisite books—every volume printed by the Three Imperial Printing Offices, including the *Yongle Encyclopedia: Abridged Edition* and *Journey to the West*, were beautifully crafted, let alone the Ming Veritable Records stored in the Huangshicheng, which were masterpieces among masterpieces.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After living in the Great Ming for so many years, Li Yashih finally understood why Ming books were of low quality: for mass production.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The thinness of Ming paper, in itself, reveals a fundamental difference between the Great Ming and the West.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Making paper thin is an advanced technique, deliberately pursued by craftsmen, because Ming printing involves printing on one side only, folding the sheet, and binding it with thread—woodblock printing costs less than movable type.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Western books are printed on both sides, requiring thicker paper—this is far too expensive.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Great Ming repeatedly lowers book costs by reducing woodblock and paper prices to meet the widespread demand for books among its populace.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There are simply too many literate people in the Great Ming: over half the population in the capital can read; nationwide, over twenty percent are literate—even hundred-chapter novels have become consumer goods for common folk.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With so many literate people, so many readers, such high demand for books, more exquisite—and expensive—books clearly cannot suit the Ming context; whereas in the West, literacy is rare, and readers are nobles—so naturally, books are made as exquisite as possible.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Great Ming Emperor is now expanding literacy through the Dinghai Educational System.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Yashih’s travelogue was not especially popular in the Great Ming, but His Majesty enjoyed reading it, primarily because Li Yashih provided a “friendly astonishment” correction mechanism; after all, the Great Ming, as the Celestial Kingdom, prized face greatly—any matter exposed by a friendly state would inevitably prompt change.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Embarrassment within the family was tolerable; but if Li Yashih wrote it into his travelogue, the humiliation would become international.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After reading Li Yashih’s latest installment, Zhu Yijun felt Li Yashih had changed—he no longer told jokes. The emperor knew well: Li Yashih had not lost his wit; he dared not joke anymore—not out of fear of the emperor’s wrath, but out of fear that the emperor’s ministers would tear him apart.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“He’s growing increasingly timid,” Zhu Yijun closed the travelogue and shook his head.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Yashih now dared not criticize any problems in the Great Ming; he focused solely on praise—he had lost the courage of his youth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Your Majesty, the Shah’s envoy has delivered a memorial—this is from Salim, the Crown Prince of the Mughal Empire, who studied in the Great Ming,” Feng Bao placed another memorial before the throne.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Salim was Akbar’s most accomplished son; impatient to ascend the throne, he rebelled against Akbar, who endured it and sent him to study in the Great Ming; after completing his studies, Akbar recalled Salim to resume his position as crown prince.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Salim frequently wrote letters to the Great Ming and occasionally, as crown prince, submitted memorials to His Majesty, describing Mughal customs and conditions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Akbar was recently planning to reclaim Afghanistan, and Salim received a mission: to suppress a Mughal sect called the Thugi sect.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Thugi sect worships Kali, the wife of the god of destruction, Shiva, believing that acting according to Kali’s will maintains the balance of good and evil in the world.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Salim sought to exterminate this Thugi sect because its core doctrine is murder.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Its basic tenets: kill the wicked, to prevent them from doing evil; kill the good, to prevent them from becoming wicked; kill yourself, to be reborn as a Brahmin or Kshatriya.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Even by Mughal standards of tolerance, they could no longer endure this Thugi sect; in its two hundred years of existence, it has claimed no fewer than two million lives—all laborers in cotton plantations,” Feng Bao explained why this sect was a demonic cult.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Tolerance” was already Feng Bao’s most polite term—he had refrained from calling it a cesspool, showing great respect for the Mughal Empire.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A cult whose purpose is murder is even more absurd than the Bliss Sect.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At least the Bliss Sect pursued pleasure, abandoned all responsibility, and indulged in selfishness—its logic, however twisted, was understandable; but the Thugi sect’s every action revolves around murder—its logic is incomprehensible.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Not only do they kill—they eat their victims,” Zhu Yijun stared at the memorial, his face dark with rage.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In his view, this Thugi sect was far more demonic than the Bliss Sect; after killing, it ate the flesh, believing it gained magical power—and when power reached a certain level, it committed suicide to be reborn.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kill the wicked, kill the good—that’s one thing; but kill yourself too?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This sect was simply too demonic.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Salim, educated in the Great Ming for four years, as crown prince could not bear this Thugi sect; he launched a campaign against the Udh region and captured their leader, Belamis, in a single battle.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Belamis had personally murdered 931 victims—men, women, children, none spared; in Udh city, Salim hanged Belamis’s entire family, established his base there, and launched a purge across the entire Udh region.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhu Yijun could not comprehend it—he was deeply shaken—and replied with over a hundred characters, congratulating Salim on his swift victory, while warning him to beware of extremist fanatics who might launch desperate assassinations.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though the Japanese Bliss Sect still raged uncontrollably, it was already in decline; from its founding to its peak, then its fall, it had enjoyed only fifteen years of glory before widespread opposition arose.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>According to Salim’s account, this Thugi sect had terrorized for two full centuries—only because Salim, motivated by ambition to secure succession, had finally crushed this demonic cult; otherwise, it would have continued unchecked.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This also confirms the positive influence of Great Ming culture on its neighbors; China’s expansion truly deserves the term “civilizing” and “imperializing.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At least within the sphere of Chinese cultural influence, such demonic cults remain illegitimate and cannot gain broad acceptance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Juzheng’s purge of factions continues, growing more intense; officials including Cai Guozhen, Right Secretary of Zhejiang; Duan Heyi, Left Assistant Commissioner of Shandong; Liu Huashu, Prefect of Zhangde in Henan; Zhang Yangxing, Prefect of Changzhou—sixteen officials above the prefect level—were investigated under Zhang Juzheng’s purge.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The severe cases, like Wang Zhuan, resulted in dismissal and stripping of scholarly titles; the lighter cases saw demotions of three ranks.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Two cases among them were most astonishing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Duan Heyi, Left Assistant Commissioner of Shandong, was the only one in this purge slated for execution and public display.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Duan Heyi was a commoner from Kunshan County, Suzhou Prefecture; in the first year of Wanli, he ranked eighteenth in the Nanjing provincial examination, eighty-first in the metropolitan examination; in the second year of Wanli, he became a second-rank jinshi; under Li Le’s recommendation, he joined the Quanchu Society in the fifth year of Wanli; in the fifth year of Wanli, he was appointed Assistant Judge of Huizhou Prefecture; in the ninth year of Wanli, he became Prefect of Huizhou; in the twelfth year of Wanli, he was transferred to Shandong as Deputy Surveillance Commissioner.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Originally, the purge had not reached Duan Heyi; in Jinan, he kept three concubines—one named Liu, whose brother was a juren serving as magistrate of BoPing County in Shandong.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When news of Zhang Juzheng’s purge reached Jinan, this concubine Liu began pressuring Duan Heyi relentlessly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Liu’s leverage was evidence of Duan Heyi’s corruption; her demand was simple: grant her the status of a legal wife, since she had borne him two sons.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To avoid being investigated, Duan Heyi agreed to her request.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But once Liu saw him yield, she escalated her demands, insisting he promote her brother further.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Duan Heyi refused, citing the tense political climate; Liu then threatened to expose his corruption, driving him to despair; he ordered his retainers to silence the Liu siblings forever.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Duan Heyi had intended to stage the murder as suicide; given his high rank and power in Shandong, the case would have been easily covered up.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>All is ready except the east wind; Duan Heyi’s subordinates indeed murdered Liu Shi and her brother, but their method was: an explosion in the open street!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When this case reached the emperor’s ears, all court ministers were stunned—someone had ordered the direct detonation of an outer concubine in the bustling heart of the provincial capital.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Each of these characters was familiar to the ministers, but when strung together, they left the ministers utterly bewildered and at a loss; the case seemed absurd beyond belief, yet it had occurred right under the bright sun.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sixteen catties of explosives detonated on the streets of Jinan Prefecture, killing Liu Shi and her brother on the spot; the eight sedan bearers, forewarned, had fled in time and remained unharmed, but one innocent bystander was killed and two others injured.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Duan Heyi’s subordinate: Mission accomplished. Liu Shi and her brother are silenced forever.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Duan Heyi: ?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Can we say the subordinate failed? This subordinate performed brilliantly—left not even a trace of bones!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Due to the extreme gravity of the offense, severe punishment was inevitable; thus, Duan Heyi became the sole official in the Qing Party to be beheaded—and the sentence was expedited.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Duan Heyi expressed annoyance and a desire to silence others; his private secretary furrowed his brow, eager to relieve his lord but unwilling to take the blame, giving vague orders; the retainers assumed their lord wished to make an example, so they naturally chose the most dramatic method possible.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was indeed an accidental outcome caused by overzealous execution, similar in nature to the Qingma Bridge case in Rongcheng County; but since it was ordered by Duan Heyi, his death was certain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Another absurd case involved Zhang Yangxing, Prefect of Changzhou Prefecture, who had a peculiar hobby: slaughtering pigs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Someone catered to his taste and established a pig farm exclusively for the prefect; this official disliked slaughtering young pigs and preferred large ones; during his five-year tenure, he slaughtered six hundred pigs, earning him the nickname “Butcher Zhang.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Slaughtering pigs was laborious—capture, bind, kill, bleed, scald, eviscerate, remove organs, and prepare all the meat; the entire process took about an hour. To increase efficiency, Butcher Zhang invented an assembly line, reducing the slaughter time to just half an hour.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And because he slaughtered pigs so quickly and skillfully, this farm became the largest pig-slaughtering facility in the entire Suzhou-Songjiang-Changzhou-Yangzhou-Yingtian region.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His love for slaughtering pigs stemmed from his childhood; his family was poor and could not afford meat; he loved watching butchers kill pigs and dreamed of one day slaughtering them himself, so he could eat meat endlessly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Once he held power, he fulfilled his childhood dream.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Embroidered Uniform Guard originally did not believe it; they specially brought a pig, cleared a space, and let him slaughter it—immediately, they were awestruck!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Yangxing used only one butcher’s knife, moving with fluid precision; within half an hour, he dissected a nearly two-hundred-catty pig into sale-ready portions—fat, lean meat, ribs, bones, and even the internal organs neatly separated; it was no less masterful than Cook Ding’s dissection of the ox.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His downfall was not due to slaughtering pigs, but because he embezzled seventy thousand taels of silver; roughly forty thousand taels of that were gifts he could not refuse; his final punishment was merely dismissal from office, and if future officials were needed, he might be reinstated.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the pig-slaughtering incident became a topic of endless fascination.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The emperor did not rebuke him for slaughtering pigs; after all, the emperor himself was not diligent in governance; he even thought Zhang Yangxing was a decent man—when troubled, he vented all his frustrations onto pigs, never tormenting his subordinates.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These two cases were truly jaw-dropping and eye-opening!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What pleased Zhu Yijun was that throughout the entire process, no resistance to the investigation occurred; after the previous military expedition to Rongcheng, the disturbance had been too great, causing everyone to instinctively reject any notion of defiance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>While Zhang Juzheng turned his blade inward, the rivalry between Yingtian and Songjiang as the secondary capital entered an intense phase; Yingtian Prefecture sent one memorial after another, voicing the strongest opposition to the emperor’s residence in Songjiang Prefecture.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Songjiang Prefecture, however, responded with silence, quietly building the Huangpu Imperial Palace, even completing the Six Ministries’ offices to accommodate the emperor’s entourage; every report merely updated progress: today’s rooms built, tomorrow’s lake expanded, the day after’s trees planted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Songjiang Prefecture even constructed a dedicated Imperial Archives within the palace, housing the Yongle Encyclopedia and its meticulously proofread copies inside stone chambers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Whatever Shuntian Prefecture had, Songjiang must have—and better.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Most importantly, the express road from Jinan to Yangzhou would be completed three months ahead of schedule, beginning trial operations in October, ensuring the emperor could travel directly to Yangzhou by express road next year and then sail straight to Songjiang.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Once His Majesty arrived, no further arguments from Yingtian Prefecture could alter this settled fact.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No more debate—it will be Songjiang Prefecture,” said Zhu Yijun, seated on the dragon throne, having read all of Yingtian’s memorials; their arguments were reasonable and well-founded, yet Zhu Yijun had made his decision.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“We humbly obey Your Majesty’s decree,” said Zhang Juzheng and the court ministers, recognizing the emperor’s resolve; they bowed in unison, finalizing the matter.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhu Yijun spoke: “My lords, I have good news: the Tonghe Palace treasury is complete. The Grand Secretary of the Cabinet, the Director of the Academy of Natural Philosophy, the Commander of the Capital Garrison, and the Minister of Revenue each hold one key. According to protocol, all four keys must be present to open the treasury and deposit gold; gold enters Tonghe Palace but never leaves.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“From the fifteenth year of Wanli, over five years, the Tonghe Palace treasury has accumulated six million taels of gold.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“And there is bad news: I intend, starting this year, to suspend the issuance of treasure notes for five consecutive years and recall all previously issued gold treasure notes.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Xueyan, the Grand Minister of Finance, brightened at the first news, but his face turned ashen upon hearing the halt in treasure note issuance; he nearly wished to depose the emperor on the spot!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Your Majesty, do you even know what you are doing!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Xueyan immediately stepped forward and bowed deeply: “Your Majesty’s benevolence is as vast as Yao’s, your virtue as lofty as Shun’s; you attend to the affairs of all directions, personally overseeing every matter without rest, securing the world and pacifying the people. I dare to ask: why abruptly halt the issuance of treasure notes? The people suffer desperately from a shortage of currency—this is a matter of grave importance. I dare not conceal my concern to flatter Your Majesty’s preferences; I humbly beg Your Majesty’s enlightened insight and guidance.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You see, you rush too quickly—let me finish,” Zhu Yijun said without offense; as Minister of Revenue, Zhang Xueyan held the empire’s financial reins; treasure notes were a vital tool for replenishing liquidity, and suddenly halting their issuance—even for five years—was precisely why Zhang Xueyan had the duty to inquire.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The decision to halt treasure note issuance was the result of Zhu Yijun’s careful deliberation.\u003C\u002Fp>",4033,"2026-06-21T07:56:02.219Z",1,"Qwen3.5 397B","e39a3ea1986205989f0bd7391a1b2506827848b331aa511e3d99d885d6876468","i-really-am-not-neglecting-my-duties-chapter-1000","i-really-am-not-neglecting-my-duties-chapter-998",1000,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fi-really-am-not-neglecting-my-duties-cover.jpg"]