I'm really not doing business

Chapter 643: The Secret of Heaven and Earth Uncovered for No Reason, Starting from the Time When Emperor Xi Draws a Picture
Oda Nobunaga was always assassinated.

Zhu Yijun suddenly saw the shadow of Dao Ye in Oda Nobunaga. Perhaps it was these endless assassinations that finally made Dao Ye completely desperate. He hid in the West Garden and became the emperor.

The daimyos of Japan kept trying to assassinate Oda Nobunaga for various reasons, but in fact, there was only one goal: to make Oda Nobunaga stop.

Oda Nobunaga's Azuchi shogunate harmed the interests of most daimyos because Oda Nobunaga had been promoting his policy of "two officials and one citizen" from beginning to end. This policy that Oda Nobunaga had always insisted on was the fundamental reason for his assassination.

The country of Japan is located in the Pacific Rim orogenic belt, with many mountains and little land. In addition, there are eight million people in Japan, and the contradiction between a large population and limited land is particularly prominent. Also, due to the war, the production order was severely disrupted and grain production further declined. The land in Japan was completely concentrated in the hands of the daimyo, which further aggravated the food crisis.

The daimyo, retainers, and samurai of Japan were all the ruling class. They all refused to pay taxes, which led to the shrinking of the tax base. No taxes could be collected from the ruling class, and the war required a large amount of food, which eventually led to the situation of eight officials and two commoners, or even nine officials and one commoner.

To interfere with the distribution of food would be tantamount to asking for the lives of the daimyo.

Oda Nobunaga's decree, two public and one civilian, not only included the adjustment of tax rates, but also the redistribution of means of production. Oda Nobunaga always wanted to concentrate the samurai in the city and send the peasants back to the countryside. The samurai did not own the land, but existed as soldiers, while the peasants owned the land and supplied the samurai with supplies to defend their homes.

This affects the interests of all daimyo.

"If Oda Nobunaga is willing to give up his political orders, he can become a high-ranking, respected, and very safe shogun, just like the shogun Ashikaga Yoshiaki." Zhu Yijun looked at Xu Wei's memorial in his hand and said with a complicated expression.

Oda Nobunaga did not choose to give up his consistent stance, but chose to intensify it.

In Xu Wei's memorial, Oda Nobunaga was also exploring a better way to realize his idea of ​​letting farmers take control of the land.

Oda Nobunaga proposed the "Land Cooperative Order", which was to unite individual farmers and concentrate on owning land based on villages. In just one month, Oda Nobunaga established more than 300 land cooperatives, and more than people joined the cooperatives. Above the cooperatives were three federations, which were directly responsible to Oda Nobunaga.

Any landowner who owns more than one hectare of land will have it confiscated.

But soon, Oda Nobunaga's Land Cooperative Order failed because Shibata Katsuie, the elder of Oda Nobunaga's retainers, took the lead in opposing this decree. While the head of Oda Nobunaga's retainers opposed this decree, the samurai whose land had been lost in vain began to use force to take back their own land. In the chaotic situation, Oda Nobunaga had no choice but to announce the withdrawal of the Land Cooperative Order.

In Japan, farmers were not allowed to own any weapons, so the samurai could easily take back their land and impose inhuman punishment on those farmers who dared to offend them.

This was undoubtedly a brave attempt, but it ended in failure. The assassination of Oda Nobunaga this time had a lot to do with the Oda-Tsuchi Cooperative Order.

"Where did he learn this land cooperation combination order?" Zhu Yijun looked at the cooperation combination order and felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity.

"Military garrisons, government factories and engineering corps camps." When Feng Baogang received the memorial, he felt familiar with it. After thinking about it carefully, he realized that it was probably a copy of the military garrison system of the Ming Dynasty.

The military garrison system of the Ming Dynasty was indeed corrupt, and had long been in name only in the heartland of the Ming Dynasty. However, the military garrison system was prevalent in the Nine Frontiers, because the Nine Frontiers were all war zones and needed soldiers.

Apparently, Oda Nobunaga wanted to copy Emperor Taizu Gao's homework, but he didn't copy it clearly.

Zhu Yijun, the Ming Emperor, couldn't even copy Zhu Yuanzhang's homework clearly. For a Japanese slave chief like him, it was totally a daydream to want to copy it clearly.

Oda Nobunaga did not give up the Japanese version of the military settlement system. He asked the Nagasaki Gyotosu and the Governor-General's Office for help, hoping that the Ming Dynasty would implement it. However, the Nagasaki Governor-General's Office disagreed.

The Nagasaki Governor-General's Office simply did not have the power to implement decrees involving the redistribution of means of production, so everything depended on Oda Nobunaga's own efforts.

The Emperor of the Ming Dynasty reviewed Xu Wei's memorial in red, approving the judgment and decision of Xu Wei and others.

Zhu Yijun picked up the second memorial, which came from Songjiang Governor Shen Shixing.

"Hmm?" Zhu Yijun sat up straight. There was a new situation in Songjiang Prefecture. Faced with the Ming court's exploration of collective ownership economy, the means of production and production tools were collectively owned by craftsmen. The powerful and influential people had to come up with their own solutions.

That is to make full use of the characteristics of the Ming Dynasty craftsmen moving in a flying geese pattern. When workers are urgently needed, they will recruit craftsmen widely. When workers are not so urgently needed, they will lay off craftsmen. This will achieve one goal, that is, the workshops will not support craftsmen, thereby circumventing the court's exploration of notarized labor contracts and collective ownership economy.

There is not a single craftsman in my workshop. You, the court, can't ask me to notarize a non-existent labor contract.

This is actually learned from the farming production model. The landlord controls the land and rents it to people who do not own the land, who are called tenants. During the busy farming season, laborers are hired for a short period of time to harvest the crops, and they are called short-term workers. People who are hired for a long period of time to work at home are called long-term workers.

Obviously, workshop owners now turn long-term workers into short-term workers in order to avoid possible political risks.

"No, the poor and hardworking people work for them, and they pay them. The purpose of my promoting this notarized labor contract is just to make sure that people get paid for their work. Is it so difficult to pay the powerful and wealthy people?" Zhu Yijun felt a sense of depression brewing in his heart.

Are Zhu Yijun's requirements high? Notarizing a labor contract is to give meat eaters and producers equal legal status in law, to ensure the execution of the labor contract, and to get paid for the work done. Isn't this natural?

The lesson of Hongyuan Dyeing Factory is enough. The workers' resentment is not because Yuan Shen goes in and out of the book house. Who cares which woman's bed Yuan Shen sleeps on today?! The workers' resentment is because they are not paid. Yuan Shen has money, but he doesn't pay his wages.

Zhu Yijun became annoyed by the repetitive implementation of such a simple policy, and became angry. He thought, "Heaven created all things to nourish the people, but the people have done nothing good to repay Heaven. Kill, kill, kill!"

The method of parading in the streets is still too mild.

"I will issue an edict to Songjiang Prefecture. Anyone who dares to speak the shorter language will be considered to be disobeying the imperial edict, and his property will be confiscated! He will also be exiled to the border areas!" Zhu Yijun picked up the red edict and wrote the word "kill".

They replaced long-term workers with temporary workers, and any attempt to circumvent the law by misidentifying them would result in their property being confiscated and their entire family being exiled to Java to refine oil.

The Ming Dynasty does not have enough light oil, but Java has petroleum. Let’s go to Java to refine the oil!

This is undoubtedly a harsh law, but Zhu Yijun's patience has been worn out by the powerful and wealthy. Sometimes, without thunder-like measures, some government orders will ultimately be like flowers in the air and castles in the air.

"I obey your order." Feng Bao took the memorial and sent it to the cabinet.

Zhang Juzheng, Wang Chonggu, Wang Guoguang and Wan Shihe were all on duty in the cabinet. As soon as the memorial was received, Zhang Juzheng asked everyone to stop what they were doing.

"If you want to oppose, do it now. You can still refute it. But once the memorial is sent to the Six Ministries, the Censorate and Songjiang Prefecture, it will be too late to undo the damage." Zhang Juzheng circulated the memorial to the four cabinet ministers and said.

"I don't object." After reading the memorial, Wan Shihe said angrily, "This is too much! They are unwilling to notarize a labor contract and pay the labor remuneration according to the agreement. How much money can they squeeze out of the poor laborers!"

Wan Shihe was very angry. This was a resolution formed in the Wenhua Palace, which meant that all the great ministers approved of the decree. This was not disobeying the emperor's edict, but a slap in the face of the court officials!
"I don't object." Wang Chonggu finished reading the memorial and gave his answer. He shook his head and said, "In the Hongyuan Dyeing Factory, the craftsmen have taken up arms to demand their wages. Do these powerful and wealthy people want the craftsmen to twist their heads and kick them around like balls before they know what it means to work hard and get paid?"

"Your Majesty, this is for the benefit of the powerful and wealthy. If you insist on letting the resentment in the hearts of the craftsmen pile up to a point where it cannot be dealt with, I'm afraid no one will have a good ending."

As the Grand Minister of Justice, Wang Chonggu has only one attitude towards this matter: Your Majesty is kind-hearted.

This is simply nonsense. Poor people and laborers are easy to bully, but there is no such thing as bullying them. If the court does not resolve the conflict here, it would be a dereliction of duty.

"It's good to confiscate the property, but there is only one Hongyuan dyeing factory, which is still too little." Wang Guoguang said happily, isn't this like sending a pillow when you are asleep? When we are worried that there are too few experimental samples and they are not meaningful for reference, the wealthy and powerful are willing to give up their own property as the price for exploring the system. It is simply wonderful.

Rebel if you have the guts! The Ming Dynasty court is in Beiya, come to Beiya if you have the guts!
"Then pass it." Zhang Juzheng would not object. His patience had been almost worn out. If it was a decree like the Return of Land Order that would take away the land for nothing, it would be fine to object like this. Hard work should be rewarded, which is only natural. This is part of reward and punishment.

It is important to understand that labor remuneration is not equal to the value produced by craftsmen, but the value remaining after exploitation. The market price is not fair.

"This Ming Cult is really...sigh." Wan Shihe talked about the Ming Cult's pilgrimage. Nearly a month had passed since His Majesty agreed to make an exception. On August 15th, the Mid-Autumn Festival, court officials only had to work half a day and then they could reunite with their families, but Wan Shihe had something on hand.

His job was simple: to arrange a tribute delegation.

The Ming court collected nearly one million taels of silver in pilgrimage fees, so it had to make proper arrangements. It felt a bit unfair to take this one million taels of silver, so the Ming court arranged for the pilgrimage group to go to Nan Ya to see the glazed tower of the Da Baoen Temple. Then the pilgrimage group traveled from south to north, took a speedboat from Songjiang Prefecture, and arrived at Tianjin Wei.

The entire tour lasted only fifteen days, and Beiya was the last stop.

"Is there any difficulty?" Zhang Juzheng asked puzzledly.

"They are too fanatical." Wan Shihe clearly stated the difficulty. He said helplessly, "I'm afraid it is very different from the holy land in their minds."

Wan Shihe finally understood why His Majesty thought that "The Celestial Empire" was an insult, and even accused the Emperor, the head of the country, of being incompetent. The believers who were willing to pay so much money, even to delay maritime trade, and wait in Manila, Luzon, waiting for tribute were all fanatical believers.

The greater the expectations, the greater the disappointment.

"The money cannot be returned." Zhang Juzheng thought for a while and said, "The money has been put into the imperial treasury. If you want to return the money, you have to go through the imperial treasury account. If you don't return it and feel disappointed, don't come again in the future."

If you can cheat anyone, you can cheat anyone! One million silver coins, the national treasury and the private treasury are already 50-50, it is impossible to return the money.

"Okay." Wan Shihe let out a breath and asked the Ministry of Rites and the Honglu Temple to arrange the reception. This pilgrimage group of twenty people paid a total of one million taels of silver in pilgrimage fees!
A total of twenty merchant ships came to pay tribute, and from each ship, only one person could go to the Glazed Pagoda in the Da Baoen Temple in the Southern Court to pay homage, and go to the Northern Court to meet the emperor. The rest of the crew could only stay in the Wanguo City in Songjiang Prefecture, and at most go to Songjiang Prefecture to see its prosperity.

The Ming Dynasty was not perfect. On the contrary, it also had many problems. The believers in the pilgrimage group would probably be very disappointed.

The pilgrimage group has arrived at Huitongguan Posthouse in Tongzhou and is waiting for official documents from the Ministry of Rites before they can rush from Tongzhou to Siyi Pavilion in the capital to stay and wait for an audience with His Majesty the Emperor.

Unlike the disappointment that Wan Shihe had imagined, the believers in the pilgrimage group became even more fanatical after seeing the real Ming Dynasty. "We are the first group of people to set foot on the holy land." A woman in a plain robe clenched her fists and said loudly, "We are the saints!"

The woman's name is Marion de Montmorency, and the surname comes from the Duke of Montmorency, Lord of Denville, and her father is the current Field Marshal of France and Governor of Languedoc.

The family's glory became precarious with the decline of France. During the great study tour to the West, Marion traveled to Lisbon, where she came into contact with the Ming Cult for the first time. She then became a devout believer and even paid a high price for it, allowing the Portuguese captain to take her to the distant East.

"But what we see is not only prosperity, but also some dirty corners." said a believer with a frown.

Marion immediately said loudly: "This is the truth! The theory of contradiction tells us that things are contradictory. If there is only a beautiful side, it must be false!"

"You're right!" The believer suddenly realized that he was confused because he had not studied the doctrine deeply enough.

“Chinese people believe that true wisdom comes from heaven and earth, not from God!”

"The sun, moon, mountains and rivers gave our ancestors inspiration! The two principles of yin and yang shaped the universal rules!"

"In the wild times, the heaven and earth gradually revealed their mysteries to the wise Fuxi. After many days and nights of deep contemplation, the incarnation of wisdom comprehended the innate eight trigrams from the sun, moon, mountains and rivers, yin and yang, dusk and dawn!"

"Yin and Yang gave birth to two opposites, two opposites gave birth to four images, four images gave birth to eight trigrams!"

Marion was extremely excited and roared at the top of her lungs at all the believers who were traveling with her. Her face turned red and she was so excited that even her eyes flashed with fanaticism.

Gao Qiyu was fluent in Latin and could understand what Marion was saying. At this moment, Gao Qiyu felt it was absurd and unreasonable. As a result, Gao Qiyu could not find any corresponding stories or experiences in the long history of the Central Plains to understand this scene.

Even though he was a Ming Dynasty man, he was not as fanatical as Marion.

"What is Tai Chi? Tai Chi is the chaos before the separation of heaven and earth, the silence before all things appeared, and the beginning of everything."

"What are the two principles? One is yin and the other is yang. The upper part is clear and the lower part is turbid. The upper part is yang (-) and the lower part is yin (--). Everything has yin and yang, which are opposite to each other, just like day and night, light and dark, hot and cold, strong and weak, moving and still. Yet, they are inseparable and form a whole!"

"What are the four symbols? When the sun rises, the yang is on top and the yin is on the bottom, which is Shaoyang; when the sun is blazing, it is double yang in the sky, which is Taiyang; when the sun sets, the yin is on top and the yang is on the bottom, which is Shaoyin; when night falls and everything is quiet, it is Taiyin."

"What a perfect pattern." Marion stood in front of a display board, pointing at the painting on the board, marveling at the perfection of the graphics.

Gao Qi Yu was holding a fan and fanning it continuously. He was a Confucian scholar, not a Yin-Yang master, so he had some knowledge about this. It turned out that in the teachings of the Daming Sect, the cycle of one day was the process of the formation of the four symbols.

Who knows how Marion could understand something so complex and abstract so thoroughly.

He is indeed a fanatical believer!
At this moment Gao Qiyu also understood why Wan Shihe told the Emperor that the Ming Dynasty was powerless against the Daming Sect. Since Xu Fan created this legend, these believers have been constantly completing this narrative and making the theory more and more complete. The more complete the theory is, the more believers it will have.

"In the doctrine of your Great Ming Sect, is Fuxi a human or a god?" Gao Qiyu interrupted Marion's fanatical explanation and asked about his confusion.

Marion said as a matter of course: "Of course it is human beings, the embodiment of wisdom. Didn't I make it very clear? True wisdom comes from heaven and earth, from nature."

Gao Qiyu was quite satisfied with this answer.

The Confucian scholars' understanding of Fuxi is that the secret of heaven and earth was revealed without any reason when Emperor Xi drew a picture. Fuxi was the originator of human civilization, not a god or ghost.

At least when Xu Fan explained Fuxi, he did not put Fuxi in the category of gods and ghosts. This is enough. On the whole, the interpretation of Fuxi and the emperor by the Daming Sect is in line with the traditional values ​​of the Daming Sect.

Gao Qiyu then said, "Tonight, I will follow the officials of the Honglu Temple to visit the bell and drum tower outside the Donghua Gate. Today, there will be the Aoshan Lantern Festival. Tomorrow morning, I will wait at the Donghua Gate for the court meeting to end and wait for the emperor to summon me. Okay, that's the itinerary. I won't bother you anymore."

Gao Qiyu briefly informed them of the itinerary and chose to leave, leaving the time to these believers. Regardless of whether their feelings were good or bad, the money would not be refunded.

Marion saw the bell and drum tower of the main government office in the twilight with a very nervous mood. It stood there quietly, the second hand ticking along with the autumn wind. As the minute hand pointed to twelve, the six o'clock time signal began. After the bell on the bell and drum tower rang six times, the officials of the Honglu Temple took Marion to climb up the bell and drum tower to have a panoramic view of the capital of the Ming Dynasty.

Marion didn't know how to describe her feelings. Under the afterglow of the setting sun, the orderly streets, the densely packed houses, the temple fairs celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival, and the endless stream of lanterns made Marion feel as if she was in another world. At this moment, she was very sure that this was the holy land.

As usual, Zhu Yijun did not attend the Aoshan fireworks on the Mid-Autumn Festival. He took Wang Yaozhuo to Wenhua Tower, where he watched all the shows with a telescope. The next morning, the sun was shining brightly, and Zhu Yijun appeared in Wenhua Hall as usual. After presiding over the court meeting, he summoned a pilgrim group headed by Marion of France.

"Greetings to the supreme overlord of Greater Asia, the sword-bearer on earth assisted by wise ministers, the guardian of order and glory in the distant East, the prophet of world light and wisdom, His Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty." Marion led a group of pilgrims and performed the ceremony of five bows and three kowtows.

"The Wenhua Hall cannot accommodate so many people. Please don't be polite." Zhu Yijun stretched out his hand. He was very dissatisfied with these lengthy titles. The Ministry of Rites made significant deletions to reduce them to a level that the emperor could barely accept. After all, the other party had paid for it.

After the interpreter translated, Marion stood up and said with a smile: "Your Majesty is really humorous. There is prosperity here, and everyone has a smile on their face. Although they may not be satisfied with their lives, their eyes are still full of hope."

“Hope is such a luxurious word, but today, I saw it with my own eyes.”

"You have come from afar, and the Ming Dynasty has done its best to serve as a friendly host. The ocean is full of countless risks. In the future, please do not waste so much silver on unnecessary things. This silver is enough for you to buy enough goods in Luzon and Manila and bring them back to the West." Zhu Yijun's words were quite polite, and he also meant that we should not waste money like this anymore.

Marion suddenly realized something and asked in confusion, "Have you noticed, humble servant of God, that the great Majesty seems to understand what we are saying without the need for an interpreter to translate our words?"

"I know a little bit of Latin." Zhu Yijun did not let the misunderstanding escalate and told Marion the truth. If Marion guessed that the emperor had mastered some kind of telepathic power, it would be a joke. The Ming Dynasty was always a secular country. Even if the grassland needed the reincarnation of the Zhenwu Emperor, it was not recognized by the official government and was promoted in a covert manner.

"Your great Majesty is indeed the embodiment of wisdom and is so knowledgeable." Marion once again praised the emperor's erudition. In the Ming Dynasty, there was no environment where Latin was used, but His Majesty was able to understand what they were saying without the need for a translator.

Zhu Yijun was silent for a moment. The main purpose of his learning Latin was to avoid being fooled by the Ming Dynasty's bureaucratic system. In Marion's eyes, he became the embodiment of wisdom and erudition.

"We have come from the distant West. The hardships along the way are like the endless waves on the ocean. As a humble servant of God, I have come to the holy land, but deep in my heart, I have an unsolvable doubt. I would like to ask Your Majesty for your guidance. What kind of Ming Dynasty do we want to become?" Marion bowed his head again and asked the doubts in his heart during this trip.

Zhu Yijun looked at Marion. When Li Zhi was discussing the alienation of people by religion, he also mentioned that the other side created by religion is to explain one problem: the destination.

Obviously, the speed of the expansion of the Ming Cult is astonishingly fast. Since the other side actually exists, there is no need to make it up, but the destination, that is, the question of "where to go", does not have a clear and definite answer.

"This question is difficult to answer, but I can still tell you part of the answer." Zhu Yijun thought for a long time and said, "The Ming Dynasty does not intend to be the world's hegemon. In fact, in my view and in the Ming Dynasty, the four words "world hegemon" are a huge trap, a trap of militarism, and a hard job that requires paying a huge moral and ethical cost."

"To become the world's hegemon, one must use a huge amount of silver to maintain military hegemony, extend the tentacles of the empire to every corner of the world, and lie and assassinate to eliminate opponents. This is a huge challenge to the traditional morality of the Ming Dynasty."

During the gatherings of the Ming Dynasty, a more precise definition of silver was given. All silver was the hard-earned money of the people.

Because the Ming Dynasty had no silver, all the silver relied on inflows from overseas, and all the silver inflows from overseas were exchanged for goods produced by the people of the Ming Dynasty with their own hands. Using the hard-earned money of the people to maintain military hegemony, fanning the flames everywhere, and making internal and external troubles to realize the emperor's vanity was irresponsible to the people.

“Anything that the Ming Dynasty disagrees with will become costly, so that it is almost impossible to do. For example, when Philip II wanted to annex Portugal, the Ming Dynasty disagreed and provided help. Something that the Ming Dynasty agrees to will become extremely cheap, so that it will be easy to succeed. For example, Portugal wanted to obtain the right to distribute Ming Dynasty goods.” Zhu Yijun explained more clearly where the Ming Dynasty should go.

"Didn't the Ming Dynasty intend to become the empire on which the sun never sets? But the Ming Dynasty is already the empire on which the sun never sets. Portugal is a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, and the King of Portugal was canonized by the Ming Emperor. Doesn't this mean that the sun will not set on the territory of the empire?" Marion didn't quite understand, and he expressed his doubts.

Zhu Yijun immediately replied: "It was an accident that King Antonio of Portugal accepted the title. It was his own effort. I just provided some help. When Portugal did not need the help of Ming Dynasty, perhaps my imperial edict was just an unnecessary letter to him."

"In my opinion, the British Empire is more of a curse. The Ming Dynasty can get what it wants in a cleaner way, rather than through bloody massacres, brutal slavery, and greedy plunder."

"Just like your Great Ming Cult, you never sell indulgences. Everyone needs to be responsible for their own actions. Sins cannot be redeemed by buying two indulgences."

Oda Nobunaga was a tough Japanese man, and the Ming Dynasty never launched an assassination attempt to get rid of him.

In the diplomatic hierarchy of the Ming Dynasty's vassal states (enfeoffed), tributary states, and friendly countries, Portugal was above the friendly countries and on the edge of the tributary states, completely different from the vassal states.

Portugal was too far away, and this special situation arose when the Ming Dynasty had no other choice. When Portugal got rid of the shadow of Spanish annexation, the Ming Dynasty became no longer important.

This is what Zhu Yijun thought, and the Ministry of Rites also made the same judgment.

"Your Majesty is truly the embodiment of wisdom. These words are the greatest gain of this journey for this servant of God." After listening carefully to the Hadith, Marion performed a ceremony of five bows and three kowtows, and said solemnly.

"Do you really understand?" Zhu Yijun spread his hands, somewhat helpless. He was afraid that Marion had misunderstood his words again and didn't know what she was thinking.

"Frugality, fairness, justice, humility, prudence, honor, sincerity, and mercy." Marion said loudly: "Your Majesty said that these eight words are a collection of these eight words. This is the creed of the followers of the Great Ming Cult."

"From your Majesty, I see the practice of these eight creeds. These eight creeds will become the light and beacon that illuminates the rest of my life. The same is true for all believers."

"Hmm?" Zhu Yijun was stunned, leaning forward slightly, and asked in confusion: "Do these eight words correspond to the Eight Diagrams?"

"Your Majesty's wisdom is as bright as the stars in the sky." Marion once again clearly realized that His Majesty was indeed a wise man and guessed it right at once.

(End of this chapter)