I'm really not doing business

Chapter 607: The Master Taught Well, Your Majesty Learned Well

The Single Whip Law harmed the interests of local government offices and the local gentry class just like the guillotine of a tiger-head chopper. When someone paid a price, someone else would gain. The interests of local government offices and the local gentry class were damaged, while the court and the poor and coolies benefited. The benefits were roughly split 30% to 70%, with 70% going to the court and 30% to the people.

Part of the 30% of the people's property will be occupied.

Therefore, the Single Whip System was, from beginning to end, an internal struggle within the ruling class, an internal struggle between the elected officials, hereditary officials and the gentry class, and a bloody struggle over the ownership of producers and means of production.

Shen Shixing, the governor of Songjiang as a Langzhong of the Ministry of Personnel, was a fifth-rank official. He was the governor of Songjiang Prefecture, which was the bridgehead of Kaihai. This was a huge joke. Shen Shixing suffered the punishment for his poor judgment of people. After suffering such a big setback, Shen Shixing's methods became visibly cruel.

"Has the Single Whip Law intensified local conflicts?" Zhu Yijun looked at the memorial in his hand with a frown. Zhu Yijun first examined himself to see if he was too hasty and put too much pressure on the local governments. The previous conflicts were not resolved, and subsequent conflicts followed one after another. Even Shen Shixing could only cope with them.

"Your Majesty, I feel that it is too late. The exploration of monetary taxation has been going on since the early years of the Jiajing reign, and there should have been substantial progress." Feng Bao disagreed with Your Majesty's self-examination. Your Majesty felt that it was slow, but the Single Whip Law had been in preparation for fifty years since Gui E proposed it.

In the ninth year of Jiajing, Gui E first proposed the Single Whip System in the court. The court officials headed by Yang Yiqing strongly obstructed it. In the first month of the tenth year of Jiajing, Gui E was forced to retire and return home. Since then, during the past fifty years of the Ming Dynasty, the exploration and completion of the theory have reached a sufficient vertical scale, and the exploration of the system has been perfected.

In fact, in the ninth year of Wanli, Wang Guoguang, Zhang Xueyan and other ministers had already begun to submit petitions requesting the implementation of the Single Whip Law. It was not until three years later that Your Majesty secretly began to pilot the system in Songjiang Prefecture.

When it comes to matters involving ordinary people, it is good to be cautious.

"I am actually open to negotiation. Sun Kehong raised two questions before. I have made a promise to never increase taxes and to impose severe punishments to ensure the true implementation of the Single Whip Law." Zhu Yijun put down the memorial and said solemnly.

Emperor Zhu Yijun was negotiable. The court decided to implement a policy without any hesitation, regardless of the lives of the local people. If a policy that was widely opposed was pushed through, it would only result in lip service and a mess. After the contradiction was explained, the Ming Dynasty's policies had already begun to fully consider the bottom-up approach. Of course, there were also assumptions, and it was impossible to cover everything.

"A dock at Songjiang Shipyard was burned down, and it was a dock for fast sailing ships. The shipyard's general managers Zhao Shizhen, Guo Rulin and others reported to the court that someone had deliberately set the fire." Zhu Yijun's fingers kept tapping on the table.

"Arson is indeed a good method. It will burn everything cleanly without leaving any evidence. Fires are normal in spring when the weather is dry. However, it is already the end of March and it has been rainy in Songjiang Prefecture." Zhu Yijun let out a breath.

You should never, ever, touch the shipyard.

Feng Bao whispered, "It could also be a fire. Houses are made of wood, and a spark can ignite them. Before fireworks were banned, there were many fires in the capital every New Year's Day."

"If the shipyard is burned, it should be against opening the sea, not a one-whip approach."

This doesn't make sense. The shipyard was involved in opening up the sea. In the ninth year of Zhengtong, Emperor Yingzong planned to sail south to the Western Ocean. There was no money to spend in the palace, so he wanted to make some money from official ships and official trade. The 200 ships built in Fujian were burned down by the civil unrest.

At this time when the one-whip policy is being implemented, burning the shipyard seems a bit irrelevant.

"The civil servants of our Ming Dynasty like this. When they can shirk responsibility, they will never take it on themselves. Under the Single Whip Law, contradictions are intensifying, and the powerful and wealthy become an excuse and reason for shirking guilt." Feng Bao explained why he thought so.

Bureaucrats love to pass the buck, saying that the responsibility is not theirs anyway. The powerful and wealthy are indeed bold and dare to do anything, but Mizhou, Songjiang Prefecture, Ningbo, Yuegang, and Guangzhou Maritime Customs are the emperor's southern warehouses. It is somewhat stupid to extend their hands to such places.

"Shen Shixing thinks so too." Zhu Yijun agreed with Feng Bao's opinion. Shen Shixing also felt so. The mass production of fast sailing ships had been bumpy and failed to meet the target last year. It would be even more difficult once the fire started this year. So it was normal for him to subconsciously pass on the blame.

"Shen Shixing asked Luo Bingliang, who was still in Songjiang Prefecture, to investigate. Luo Bingliang actually found out something fishy. This time, it was the Qu family in Shanghai County." Zhu Yijun took out a copy of the Tangbao and handed it to Feng Bao.

Judging from the memorials alone, the shipyard's general managers Zhao Shizhen and Guo Rulin were indeed trying to pass the buck, putting the blame on the powerful and wealthy in order to evade punishment from the court.

Shen Shixing asked the imperial guards to investigate. Luo Bingliang did not find any evidence in the shipyard. Originally, at this point, the punishment of Zhao Shizhen and Guo Rulin was already a foregone conclusion and their coffins were nailed shut. However, when Luo Bingliang was inspecting taxes in Shanghai County, he accidentally discovered a clue.

Tax inspection mainly involves checking accounts. His Majesty the Emperor ordered Luo Bingliang to check whether the Songjiang December Oiran and Roppongi Flower Crown Gentlemen have paid taxes, and whether the taxes on Xiafei Street have been paid in full. If not, they will be urged to pay immediately.

As Luo Bingliang checked, he found hundreds of incorrect expenditures, which added up to 600,000 taels! The expenditures for the mausoleum of a former emperor were gone without a trace.

Since the Ming Dynasty began to implement the six-book-one-account and payment accounting method in the second year of Wanli, it immediately gained widespread support among the people. After all, the fact that Zhang Siwei had seven layers of profit eaten up by the shopkeeper and the accountants was well known to everyone.

There must be a way to deal with these hundreds of expenditures totaling more than 600,000 silver coins that have disappeared without a trace.

Everyone was very cautious and unwilling to talk about the future of the money. Finally, the imperial guards found a breakthrough from Qu Hexing's grandson Qu Daocheng.

There are many shops on Xiafei Street that are owned by Mr. Qu. Most of the problematic accounts come from these shops. Once, Qu Daocheng had a great time drinking with these famous courtesans, and he shouted: Whoever dares not give face to me, Mr. Qu, in Songjiang Prefecture, will be dealt with tomorrow! My old man has the account! I, Mr. Qu, can walk sideways in Songjiang Prefecture!
"Qu Hexing was a man of character. He traveled all over the world. He escorted cotton ships to Japan, fought with Japanese pirates, hunted whales in the Whale Sea, sold fish oil in Ryukyu, and fought with pirates on the beach in Luzon. He went through wind and rain and built up a huge foundation. But it was all destroyed by this good grandson."

"Qu Daocheng, everything will come to fruition naturally, the name has a good meaning." Zhu Yijun leaned back in his chair and said with a sigh.

A brothel is a place of fame and fortune. Qu Daocheng, this good grandson, took all the twelve courtesans under his name just for fame and fortune, or for recognition. If Wang Qian went to Taibai Tower and didn't send ten flower baskets first, is he still a young master Wang?

Qu Daocheng was pretending to be cool. In front of the courtesan and the guests, he said that he could do whatever he wanted in Songjiang Prefecture and that everyone had to give him face because he had a debt with the old man.

The imperial guards went to Qu's house with the idea of ​​trying their best. The experienced Qu Hexing did not reveal any flaws, but Qu Youming, the father of Qu Daocheng, who was protecting him, was a little panicked. The imperial guards, like cats smelling blood, directly surrounded Qu's house.

The Tiqi department takes orders directly from the emperor and can arrest people without any formalities. Power will be capricious without supervision, but this also makes the Tiqi extremely efficient in investigating cases. If they follow the formalities, it will take ten days or half a month to complete the work, and the case will be forgotten. What case is there to investigate?
The imperial guards finally found the account book in Qu's mansion.

This account book is a detailed record of the transactions between the Qu family and officials at all levels in the Southern Court. The total amount exceeds 1.1 million silver coins. In addition to the 600,000 silver coins found in Xiafei Street, there are still 500,000 silver coins.

This is a bribery account book, which includes the boss, vice president, and even agent of Songjiang Shipyard. The agent is the second in command of the state-owned factory. If the general manager is not there, the agent will be the boss.

"It turns out that someone really set the fire." Feng Bao was amazed after reading the tax reports. The tax reports were sent from the Songjiang Tax Inspection Office to the Northern Pacification Office in the capital, and then presented to His Majesty by Pacification Envoy Zhao Mengyou. Feng Bao did not see these tax reports.

"Why did the old man of the Qu family give birth to such a grandson? He might as well strangle him to death." Feng Bao also said with a sigh.

The Qu family has successfully completed the transformation from a landlord who collected rent to a workshop owner and a maritime merchant. The three ports of Songjiang are full of Qu family's ships. Originally, the implementation of the Single Whip Law had little to do with the Qu family, and the Qu family could have just stayed out of it and watched.

But Qu Daocheng and his father Qu Youming insisted on becoming the leader and boss in Songjiang.

The Qu family was divided into two factions. One faction was led by Old Man Qu, who advocated giving up collecting rent from the land. He thought it was too much work and not profitable, and if they raised the grain prices a little they would be hit hard. It would be better to focus on opening up the sea and compete with the Songjiang Sun family for the ownership of the Yuanxu Islands. The other faction was led by Qu Youming and Qu Daocheng, who advocated having it all, including the land rent, which was their main business and could not be given up, but they also wanted to open up the sea.

"Just because a dock at a shipyard was burned down, the Single Whip Law will not be implemented? Why haven't we figured it out after all these years? They put forward opinions and ideas. If they make sense, how could the court ignore them? The more nonsense they do, the more they will incur God's wrath." Feng Bao also looked helpless.

According to Qu Youming's confession, the dock of Songjiang Shipyard was burned, and specifically a dock for fast sailing ships, with only one purpose, which was to kill you while you were sick.

Shen Shixing had already been demoted three levels because of the matter involving his advisor Dong Wei. If he failed to achieve the goal of mass production of fast sailing ships, the court would certainly punish him, and Shen Shixing would be doomed.

If Shen Shixing is finished, he will have to be replaced, and the policy of the Single Whip Law will be uncertain. No matter who takes over this mess, he will have to familiarize himself with it and then push forward the decree. By then, it will be hard to say whether the Single Whip Law can be completed.

"Now that Shen Shixing is gone, I will let Ling Yunyi go to Songjiang Prefecture." Zhu Yijun showed his signature smile and said with a bright and sunny face, "Don't they think Shen Shixing has a mild temper, is weak, and is easy to bully? I will find them a grandfather who is not easy to bully to deal with them, hehe."

"You think the good-tempered Qing Tian Da Ye is not good, right?"

When the Single Whip Law was about to be implemented in Songjiang Prefecture, Hai Rui asked whether the pressure on Shen Shixing was too great. On the one hand, he had to open the sea, and on the other hand, he had to implement the Single Whip Law. This added burden, and it really made the Master of Balance a little breathless and at a loss. As soon as he suppressed one problem, another one floated up.

Civil unrest and arson are indeed two good ways to deal with the problem. Civil unrest means that a harsh government is more ferocious than a tiger, and officials force the people to rebel. It is difficult to verify the cause of arson, for example, the Wanggongchang explosion in the second year of the Tianqi reign, in which even the prince was frightened to death, but the cause could not be found.

The powerful and wealthy are adept at using these two methods, but this time they were unlucky because they had a grandson, Qu Daocheng, who liked to show off.

"The accounts will be sent to Beijing tomorrow and handed over to the Censorate." Zhu Yijun approved the report from the Imperial Guards and transferred the account books to the Censorate. The account books of an earthquake that affected the entire Songjiang Prefecture were handed over to Hai Rui, which meant that his grandfather had lost his son and he had no uncle.

In the summer of the third year of Longqing, Hai Rui scolded Emperor Longqing for his extravagance and said that he should reduce the consumption in the palace. The country's financial resources were greatly reduced, so how could the emperor have the nerve to waste so much? The emperor scratched his head and said, "Go to the Southern Court to be the governor, and stop annoying me."

Before Hai Rui arrived in Yingtian Prefecture, he received an account book that involved the entire Jiangnan area. It was also a similar bribery book, involving officials of all ranks in the fourteen prefectures of Yingtian. When Hai Rui arrived in Yingtian Prefecture, some people were afraid of Hai Rui's reputation and chose to retire voluntarily, while others did not believe in it and wanted to confront Hai Rui.

As a result, Hai Rui was defeated only half a year after he took office as the governor of Yingtian. Hai Rui had seen all kinds of tricks, all of which were old tricks. But it was the emperor who dealt Hai Rui the fatal blow in the end. Emperor Longqing believed the statement of the censor Dai Fengxiang that he sheltered treacherous people and exploited the gentry, so he promoted Hai Rui and forced him to retire.

Now another very similar account book appeared in the court.

The next morning, Hai Rui had just finished his court and came out of Wenhua Hall, and he went straight to the Zhenfu Division to receive the account books. "Gone? Where are the account books?" Hai Rui leaned forward and said with narrowed eyes, "General Ti, the emperor ordered General Ti to hand over the account books to me. Why, General Ti doesn't trust me?"

"What are you saying, General Hai? If you don't trust anyone, can you not trust General Hai's character? All the civil and military officials in the court have lost their integrity. Then General Hai is still trustworthy. Why is the account book gone? That's a long story. Just be patient." Zhao Mengyou motioned Hai Rui to sit down and talk.

"The imperial guards had originally planned to hand over the account books to the coastal defense inspectors, but the wind and waves have been too strong recently. The coastal defense inspectors are also human, not gods. They could not cross the sea in the strong winds and waves, so they had to change to land transportation. Something went wrong during this change, and the imperial guards who were responsible for escorting the account books got into trouble." Zhao Mengyou talked about the specific details of the loss of the account books.

When the Ti cavalry set out from Songjiang, they encountered great resistance. The Ti cavalry set out in three waves, which was a tactic of confusing the enemy with a new one, but all three waves were intercepted. They were either robbed by mountain bandits or attacked by sea pirates, or the post station said that they had no horses and had sent them away, making it impossible to switch, or someone passed a note offering a large sum of money to buy the account book.

Zhao Mengyou said with a smile on his face: "After stumbling to Tianjin, the account book was not saved in the end. The three imperial guards were besieged by 27 bandits. Luckily, the imperial guards escaped, but the account book was intercepted."

"Lawlessness! It's absolutely lawless! The account books have reached the emperor, yet you dare to stop them from entering the capital! Is there still law in this Ming Dynasty?" Hai Rui slammed the table and stood up. His Majesty has the final say on whether the account books can be brought into the capital, but the obstructions along the way clearly show that someone does not want to see the account books coming to the capital.

A single move can affect the entire body. In Qu Hexing's account book, there are not only local officials in Songjiang Prefecture, but also officials in Yingtian Prefecture.

Officials should help each other and do whatever is convenient for them. Some officials may not know what the imperial guards are escorting specifically, but they can still help as much as they can. No one dares to stop the emperor from asking for the account books!
"General Ti, why are you not panicking at all? Shouldn't you go to the palace to apologize at this time?" Hai Rui suddenly looked at General Ti Zhao Mengyou with some confusion. This guy had a smile on his face and was not in a hurry. Didn't he even go to apologize?

"General Hai is a man of strong character, like a green pine and cypress. We, the imperial guards, are all rough people and don't understand these things, but we know that we should be loyal to the emperor. The three imperial guards received orders in advance to save their lives first and abandon evidence when necessary, so the imperial guards ran away under the siege." Zhao Mengyou smiled and said, "Your Majesty said that when necessary, save your life first, and you will never run out of firewood if you have the green mountains."

Hai Rui agreed with what he thought. The most fanatical loyalists in the Ming Dynasty were these imperial guards. Without orders, they would probably die together with the enemy to preserve the evidence. However, the evidence was lost in the hands of the fanatical imperial guards.

"General Ti is sitting on the Diaoyutai, obviously he has made some preparations?" Hai Rui was no longer in a hurry. If the Northern Pacification Office could not be trusted, His Majesty would not rely on it. The Northern Pacification Office had completely separated from the former Jinyiwei subordinate institutions and became a large secret service department that was completely under the command of the emperor for military law, intelligence, and taxation.

"There is no preparation. We just printed all the accounts and printed 500 copies for backup. The one sent to the capital is just a printed copy. It doesn't matter if it is lost. Since it is lost, there is no need to be polite. We can just sell it in various places in the Southern Court." Zhao Mengyou shook his head and said, "Your Majesty is willing to give our Ming Dynasty bureaucrats a decent treatment."

"What a pity, they don't want to be decent themselves. Why don't we make it public? Let's let the two capitals, fifteen provinces, and four governor-general offices of the Ming Dynasty take a good look at who is involved and how much bribes they have received."

Hai Rui picked up the tea on the table, took a sip to calm himself, and turned the cup in his hand and said, "This was your Majesty's idea, right?"

"Well, one time I didn't do a good job and lost a piece of unimportant document. His Majesty scolded me for being stupid and told me this method. No one dared to stop the imperial guards from escorting the person. Since they wanted to stop them, it was just right to use it." Zhao Mengyou said with a smile on his face: "Your Majesty, you really have a good idea."

The usual tactics used by the despicable Confucian scholars have become more and more extreme. The more they try to stop them, the bigger they want to make it, and they want to do it twice as hard.

"Before I first came to the capital, I thought that the Imperial Tutor was too shrewd and worldly-wise, and I didn't know what he would teach Your Majesty to be like. Over the years, every single thing has proven that the teacher teaches well and Your Majesty learns well." Hai Rui said sincerely, His Majesty really has learned everything!
The emperor must be able to use all means possible. If he doesn't, he will be manipulated by the elites selected by the imperial examination system.

Since this account book was sold so openly and circulated widely, severe punishment must be imposed, and at the very least the crime must be aggravated to the third degree. Originally, the account book was submitted to the Censorate, and it had to be dealt with according to the severity of the impact, the amount of bribes, etc. Sometimes the emotions of some senior officials had to be taken into consideration, and the eight punishments were not abolished.

Now that it has been made public, it means that the relationship has been completely torn apart. The court can only punish severely, otherwise where is its majesty?
"You're shooting yourself in the foot." Hai Rui stood up and said goodbye. The account book would be delivered to the court in less than two days, so Hai Rui was not in a hurry.

On the third day, Hai Rui saw some of the details in a newspaper. In order to grab the headlines, as soon as his informant from Songjiang Prefecture got hold of the account books that were for public sale, he rushed to Beijing immediately, and then printed them into books and sold them everywhere. What he was trying to do was to save time and grab the headlines.

Lin Fucheng and Li Zhi's hot topics about the alienation of people by religion and power were immediately covered up.

The coastal defense inspectors brought the originals by sea, and Duntai Yuanhou brought the copies by land. They went hand in hand and delivered the account books to the capital and the Northern Pacification Office, and then the original was delivered to Hai Rui.

When the censors of the Censorate saw the details of the account books published in the newspapers, they knew that they would have to work overtime again.

"Nanjing Metropolitan Censorate Chief Li Yonglu, Assistant Censor-in-Chief Yuan Hongyu, Nanjing Ministry of Rites Left Vice Minister Song Cunde and a total of 140 others are involved in a major bribery case involving the Qu family in Songjiang Prefecture. From today on, they are ordered by the king to supervise the case!" After briefly flipping through the accounts, Hai Rui summoned the censors of the Metropolitan Censorate and began to perform supervision.

"Your Majesty's imperial edict must not be wrong." Li Youzi, the Right Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, showed His Majesty's handwritten edict, which was a short-axis imperial edict. Except for the imperial edict conferring military honors, all imperial edicts of the Ming Dynasty were short-axis.

Zhang Juzheng was extremely supportive of this matter.

When Hai Rui retired, Zhang Juzheng wrote a letter to him saying: I am honored to be able to participate in the affairs of the court, but I cannot be a minister who rewards law-abiding officials and suppresses frivolous and licentious ideas. I feel deeply ashamed.

It has been a long time since the court's laws have been effectively enforced in the Southern Court and Zhejiang. When Hai Gangfeng took office in the Southern Court, he suddenly used the law as a criterion to correct injustices. The local government could not bear it, resulting in a surge of false rumors. Everyone who heard about it was terrified. I (Zhang Juzheng) was a cabinet minister and could participate in court discussions, but I could not reward law-abiding ministers for the court and correct wrong and superficial decisions. I felt deeply guilty and uneasy.

At that time, Gao Gong was the Prime Minister of the court. When Zhang Juzheng was forced to retire because Hai Rui was promoted, he wrote a letter to apologize.

It was not that Zhang Juzheng did not appreciate Hai Rui's character, nor did he have any grudge against Hai Rui, nor did he have any hatred towards Hai Rui. It was just that under the circumstances of the times, Zhang Juzheng tried but failed to do it.

The fourteen prefectures of the Southern Court, including Songjiang Prefecture, were hit by a major earthquake. The number and scope of the cases involved shocked the entire court.

"Your Majesty, I think that too many people have been implicated." Zhang Juzheng came to the imperial study in Tonghe Palace specifically for this matter, asking Your Majesty not to implicate too many people. Whoever is found in the account book will be identified. This is Zhang Juzheng's attitude of hoping to settle the matter peacefully. He has already submitted a memorial, which was presented in person.

Zhu Yijun got angry when he saw the memorial, and he was also angry when he saw Zhang Juzheng himself. Although Zhang Juzheng, a radical reformer, was a bit conservative now, Zhu Yijun still disliked his conservative remarks.

"Sir! They have burned my official factory and dared to kill my imperial guards! Fortunately, my imperial guards are capable and have managed to escape!"

"Now you tell me, sir, we should stop here? How can we stop here? I know that you just want to take a step back in exchange for the implementation of the Single Whip Law. This is indeed in line with the basic logic of politics. Exchanges are everywhere. I will not investigate too deeply in exchange for their implementation of the court's orders."

"Is it because I don't want to be respectable? They don't want to be respectable themselves. They dare to kill the imperial guards who are escorting evidence. If I don't react, they will dare to assassinate the king tomorrow!"

"Master taught me to give an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Never show weakness to others easily. The emperor is strong! This is what Master taught me!"

Zhang Juzheng really taught Zhu Yijun how to be an emperor. There are all kinds of emperors, but you cannot be a weakling, otherwise anyone in the world can bully you.

"It was indeed I who taught me." Zhang Juzheng was hit by a boomerang. It was indeed he who taught him, and he had been doing so for so many years.

"Then sir, you also submitted a memorial to persuade people to be benevolent and forgiving! You can't even do it yourself, but you want me to do it?" Zhu Yijun let out a fierce breath. Just admit it. If you don't admit it, then bring the notes of the lecture and confront me face to face!

"Your Majesty, according to class theory, we should let them go," Zhang Juzheng said with his head bowed.

The memorial contained a lot of nonsense about the emperor's benevolence and forgiveness, but when he was presented to the emperor in person, Zhang Juzheng told the truth.

Zhu Yijun looked at the position of the Secretary of the Central Secretariat and found that the Secretary of the Central Secretariat had gone to the toilet, so he said, "Tell me in detail."

Zhang Juzheng also looked at the position of the Secretary, and then he said: "Your Majesty, the Single Whip Law is an internal struggle between hereditary officials, official-selected officials and gentry. Internal struggles require uniting all those who can be united. The game of politics is actually very simple, it's all about who has more people."

"Your Majesty, if we stop at the account book and don't involve collective punishment, we are showing solidarity. If we continue to involve collective punishment, we will only push everyone to the opposite side, to the opposite side of the new policy. The harder we suppress them, the more united they will be."

"Tai Chi talks about yin and yang. This pulling and hitting breaks the tacit understanding between them, divides them up and defeats them one by one."

“It’s all about the New Deal.”

Zhu Yijun thought about it seriously, nodded and said, "Well, that makes sense, but none of the 140 people in the account book can be let go!"

Zhang Juzheng said hurriedly, "We will stop at the account books. Naturally, no one on the account books will be spared. Moreover, if Your Majesty promised to punish the offenders three times, then we will punish them three times. Those who should be exiled will be beheaded in public, and those who should be ordered to retire will be exiled to the border areas, Java, etc., to intimidate them."

"Your Majesty, they hope that Your Majesty will be implicated and the matter will become a hot topic, with complaints everywhere. Those who originally had a way out will have to take the risk instead."

"What if something else happens?" Zhu Yijun asked unhappily, pointing at the account book on the table.

"The Beijing troops are heading south." Zhang Juzheng gave his answer. He said very accurately: "Sometimes, you pull your fist back in order to strike out with more force."

"Good, I'll do as you say." Zhu Yijun looked at Zhang Juzheng and said, "Sir, you'd better not be a conservative. The words "initiator of the Wanli Reform" and "conservative" are incompatible."

The Prime Minister who said that the Beijing troops were heading south was a conservative? This conservative was just a disguise!

(End of this chapter)