I'm really not doing business

Chapter 767: How high the sky is, how far the emperor is

Shen Shixing was really a little helpless. He was fearless, not even the difficulties of returning the land order. Now with the emperor's edict, he was like a tiger with wings. Now, he wanted to go to the gate of Hangzhou Prefecture and beat the drum to complain. He wanted to tell everyone that he was wronged.

But when he remembered that the prefect of Hangzhou was Yan Shixuan himself, Shen Shixing gave up this plan.

If he had arrived a step later, or even delayed a little longer on the road, he would not be responsible for the civil uprising in Sanjiang Camp of Taizhou Prefecture, after all, he had been in Songjiang Prefecture before.

But he got off the car and put one foot on the ground in front of Yongchang Gate, so he has to take the blame for this matter.

Shen Shixing immediately spoke up, "What exactly is the civil unrest? What is the cause of it? How large is the scope? What is the Sanjiang Camp doing? Are soldiers from the Sanjiang Camp involved? What is the Taizhou prefect doing? Send the Luomu Camp scouts to Taizhou to help the Taizhou prefect quickly figure out the situation."

"Immediately notify all counties in Taizhou Prefecture to close the city gates and block the roads to prevent the situation from getting worse."

"Tell the Taizhou prefect to find out the demands of the people, use military force sparingly, and do not create conflicts or incidents. As long as you can calm the other party's emotions, everything will be fine. It is best not to have bloodshed and death. If deaths are inevitable, you must also be prepared to deal with them."

"If the Taizhou prefect can't figure out these things, let him find a well to jump into."

"Immediately go to Shuangyu Port in Ningbo Prefecture and report the intelligence to the navy garrison."

Shen Shixing issued a series of very clear orders, specifically targeting individuals. The sooner you deal with this kind of mass incident, the simpler it will be.

Countless fast horses traveled between Hangzhou and Taizhou, and a steady stream of news was transmitted to Hangzhou Prefecture through the post stations.

After a day and a night of fermentation, the matter had been roughly sorted out. Shen Shiqing, a scholar from Hangzhou Prefecture, led more than 3,000 poor laborers including tenants, boatmen, canal laborers, and trackers to rise up in Sanjiang Camp. 1,500 soldiers from Sanjiang Camp were also among them.

The situation has deteriorated to a certain extent, with the rebellious soldiers and the rioters joining together. At this point, they can no longer be dispersed quickly.

Moreover, in just one day and one night, they broke into the homes of more than 40 gentry and burned to death hundreds of gentry and their lackeys.

It is a real civil unrest, and the number of people involved is constantly increasing.

"Taizhou prefect Li Hongdao didn't tell the truth." Yan Shixuan looked at it for a long time and said to Shen Shixing, "According to Li Hongdao, it was a group of greedy and unruly people who made endless demands. Taizhou prefecture was unable to satisfy them, so they gathered together to riot, burned and looted the wealthy families, and the whole city was filled with smoke and fire. The people cried until dawn and begged the court to send troops to quell the rebellion."

"If it was one or two hundred people, or five or six hundred people, this statement could be believed, but this is three thousand people, occupying Sanjiang Camp to resist the enemy. Unless the people of our Ming Dynasty are really angry and can't suppress it, they will not cause such a thing."

In just Sanjiangying, Taizhou Prefecture, there were actually three thousand ambitious and unruly people, and people of all kinds gathered together. Yan Shixuan didn't believe it. He thought there must be some great injustice that forced them to do so.

Shen Shixing threw the newspaper in his hand to the ground and said sternly, "There is something wrong with Li Hongdao! Let Duntai Yuanhou go to Sanjiangying and ask clearly. At this time, Li Hongdao is still lying and trying to cover up the truth! Can he cover it up?"

"Extremely stupid!"

Yan Shixuan was stunned and asked, "Governor, I am a little dull. How can you be sure that there is something wrong with Li Hongdao?"

Not telling the truth and having problems are two different things.

"The 3,000 people who rebelled have occupied Sanjiang Camp and are not moving. Do you think they are ready to fight?" Shen Shixing said confidently, "They just want to seek an explanation. We cannot wait any longer. Prepare the car and head to Sanjiang Camp immediately."

A lawyer asked solemnly, "Governor, it's so chaotic right now. Isn't it a bit too dangerous for you to go there? What if..."

"Prepare the car." Shen Shixing waved his hand and said, "If this spreads from Sanjiangying to the entire Taizhou, I'm afraid things will not be peaceful."

At daybreak, Shen Shixing led 1,500 men from Luomu Camp and set out towards Sanjiang Camp. The rebellious soldiers and civilians had already joined forces. The civilians relied on the strength of the soldiers, and the soldiers relied on the people's livelihood. If one of them was not handled properly, Zhejiang could be blown to the sky.

Shen Shixing was a little worried on the way because the leader was a juren, Shen Shiqing.

Could it be that because the candidates could not pass the imperial examination, they spread rumors to confuse the public, causing such a commotion? Then, wasn't the imperial edict of leniency from His Majesty a step too late?
Shen Shixing was worried. On the way to Sanjiang Camp, he finally figured out the situation. Duntai Yuanhou entered Sanjiang Camp without any weapons and rode a donkey upside down. After asking about the situation, he said that riding a donkey upside down means that he has no weapons and no ill intentions. He will show his back to you. Don't attack him. He is a messenger.

This process was difficult. Duntai Yuanhou's entry was not smooth and he encountered great resistance. The resistance did not come from the rebels but from Taizhou Prefecture.

After leaving Sanjiang Camp, Dun Tai Yuan Hou rode his horse at full speed and delivered the news directly to Shen Shixing, because Dun Tai Yuan Hou believed that the Taizhou government was not trustworthy.

The report was made in Tangbao: It is not that the juren cannot take the imperial examinations, but they have gathered together to cause chaos. Your Majesty has forced them to rebel. The scholars have failed to rebel for three years, and if the juren really want to make trouble, they can only do the trick of crying at the grave.

Such a big thing happened because the imperial court wanted to return the land, so the local gentry started to rent it out for a long time. The imperial court prohibited long-term renting, so the local gentry bribed the officials in Taizhou and played a game of misattribution. In other words, in name only the land was distributed to the people, but actually it was still in the hands of the gentry. By this point, there was already some civil unrest in Taizhou.

About three hundred tenants tore up the notice and went into the city to file a complaint. If Taizhou prefect Li Hongdao had handled the situation properly, the matter would not have become a big deal. Li Hongdao ordered a suppression of the riot, and the yamen runners blocked the streets and ambushed the tenants at Caishiqiao and Qinghefang in Taizhou. After being driven out of Qinghefang, the tenants fled to Donghu Academy in Taizhou.

Shen Shiqing, a juren from Hangzhou, was the instructor of this academy. Shen Shiqing took in these tenants, blocked the door and prevented the yamen runners from entering. Hundreds of tenants were beaten and bruised all over.

It wasn't Shen Shiqing who started it, but his actions had a huge impact.

If Taizhou prefect Li Hongdao was willing to talk at this time, the situation would not have escalated further. However, Li Hongdao chose to go his own way and forcefully broke open the gate of the academy. Seeing that Li Hongdao was so determined, Shen Shiqing fled south with his tenants and arrived outside Chonghe Gate.

The Sanjiang Rescue Battalion was stationed outside Chonghe Gate. It was one of the nine Zhejiang battalions originally formed by Hu Zongxian. Shen Shiqing requested for shelter, and the Sanjiang Battalion opened its gates.

At this point, things were completely out of Li Hongdao's control, because the Sanjiang Camp was also very dissatisfied with Li Hongdao.

Sanjiangying originally had 60,000 acres of official fields, which served as their food rations. It would have been fine if Li Hongdao had not coaxed them, but he had rented out these official fields very early. Now that these food rations were gone, they had to get food and drink from the Taizhou government. The Taizhou prefect was able to control Sanjiangying.

"Who gave him the courage! Is he crazy? After Luo Muying entered the city to suppress the bandits, he actually dared to do this?" Yan Shixuan was also the prefect, and he couldn't figure out who gave Li Hongdao the courage!
The uprising at Luomu Camp was the most direct manifestation of violence, which made the whole world seethe. Yan Shixuan couldn't understand why Li Hongdao was still making things difficult for Sanjiang Camp.

Shen Shixing handed the report to Yan Shixuan and said, "After your majesty left, the gentry who were unwilling to lose their lands, under the pretext of returning home, gathered bandits, bullies, and idlers and began to go to the countryside to reclaim land. Each family had between 50 and 200 people. It was these people who gave Li Hongdao the confidence."

Li Hongdao had a bandit group of at least 3,500 returning bandits under his command, plus 1,000 yamen runners in the yamen. Violence was in Li Hongdao's hands, at least that was what Li Hongdao thought.

After the tenants entered the Sanjiang Camp, Li Hongdao ordered the yamen runners and returning bandits to "suppress the rebellion" in the Sanjiang Camp, which further intensified the conflict. Originally, the 1,500 soldiers in the Sanjiang Camp only provided shelter for the tenants, teachers and scholars of the Donghu Academy. This direct attack on the camp gate immediately caused a counterattack.

The commander of the Sanjiang Camp, Fang Rongxing, began to counterattack, captured the Chonghe Gate, and broke into the Fengxianfang, Guangwenfang, Yingxianfang, Qinghefang, Yongjingfang and other markets, captured more than 40 gentry, and then withdrew his troops back to the Sanjiang Camp.

They were forced to withdraw their troops as Li Hongdao's returning bandits rushed up. The Sanjiang Camp had only 1,500 soldiers in total and could not defend such a large area. They would be defeated one by one and were forced to retreat to the camp outside Chonghe Gate.

After reading the newspaper, Yan Shixuan frowned and said, "Why aren't there these bandits returning to their hometowns in Hangzhou? Those gentry who want to return their land may cry for mercy, but they don't dare to do so."

Shen Shixing said angrily: "You are talking nonsense. When the Luomu Camp mutinied, you and the Luomu Camp Captain Ma Wenying arrested the Zhejiang Governor Wu Shanyan."

"There are bandits returning from their hometowns in Hangzhou, so you have to wipe them out one by one. How dare these gentry do that? You are stubborn and you just ignore them because you have Luo Muying to back you up."

"That's right." Yan Shixuan forgot that he was also one of the rebels when the Luomu camp mutinied.

"The situation is already very clear. The Sanjiang camp has been besieged by Li Hongdao and his returning bandits. The camp will be breached at any moment." Shen Shixing looked solemn.

Li Hongdao was not crazy. On the contrary, he was very calm and continued to attack. As long as he broke through the Sanjiang camp, he would be the winner. He could continue to tell the story of the unruly people causing chaos. Everyone was dead and there was no evidence. As long as he could settle the matter before the court reacted, he could make up the truth of the matter.

But if he did not attack and surrendered, he would be dead as soon as the imperial army arrived.

There is no doubt that the bosses behind these returning bandit groups also think so. They share the same interests and have become a community of shared interests. If Li Hongdao loses, the imperial court will never let these gentry go. On the contrary, if Li Hongdao wins, it will be another successful suppression of the civil unrest. As long as they give them a little benefit afterwards, these tenants will stop making trouble.

Then the order to return the land to Taizhou can be implemented in name only.

Li Hongdao settled the matter. If Shen Shixing did not want to be the governor of Songjiang and Zhejiang as a fifth-rank doctor, Shen Shixing would have to help cover up. After all, if the court really blamed him, Shen Shixing would probably be demoted three levels.

In fact, at this time, the best response for Shen Shixing, Yan Shixuan, and the Shuangyu Navy was to sit on the sidelines and wait for Li Hongdao to break into the camp and wait for Li Hongdao to take credit for the rebellion. This was the most beneficial way for all the bureaucrats.

Moreover, when Li Hongdao was preparing to take action against the tenants, he had already blocked the streets and roads. No matter how many rumors the people of Taizhou had, they did not know the truth.

As long as Li Hongdao can keep the lid on, the officials will help to keep the lid on because of their common interests.

At the beginning, Yan Shixuan joined Luo Muying in rebellion, and there was nothing that could be done. Zhejiang Governor Wu Shanyan even wanted to kill Yan Shixuan. Yan Shixuan had no choice but to go all the way.

The sky is high and the emperor is far away. As high as the sky is, the emperor is far away.

The emperor had no way of knowing what had happened. It was unclear when his next southern tour would be, or even whether there would be a next southern tour.

"Governor, are you still going to Taizhou?" Yan Shixuan asked solemnly.

"Go!" Shen Shixing shook his head and said sternly, "I still don't believe this. Can you still defeat me?! I want to be the Prime Minister! I must do it!"

The prerequisite for being the Prime Minister is the trust of His Majesty. Even if the Taizhou incident was really covered up, His Majesty would still doubt Shen Shixing himself. As long as His Majesty had a thought, "Is the Taizhou incident really like this?", Shen Shixing would not be able to be the Prime Minister.

Shen Shixing knew very well that His Majesty was not easy to fool. On the contrary, even if he returned to Beijing as a fifth-rank doctor, as long as His Majesty trusted him, he could still enter the cabinet as a fifth-rank official and climb to the highest position, because all the university scholars were also fifth-rank officials.

If you want to be Yan Shixuan's boss, you must be tough, tough enough to withstand any storm.

Shen Shiqing was the key figure in the matter, as he opened the gate of Donghu Academy and let the injured tenants in. He also persuaded the captain-general in Sanjiang Camp to give them protection.

On the way to Taizhou, Shen Shixing encountered many twists and turns in the situation of Sanjiang Camp. After being attacked for several days in a row, Sanjiang Camp was already in danger.

A guest soldier camp whose main purpose was to patrol and fight floods, the soldiers' life was actually very hard after they had no food fields. Their weapons were in disrepair, they had muskets but no gunpowder, they had bows but no arrows, they did have some long and short weapons, but the returning bandits and yamen runners also had real guns and swords.

Originally, Sanjiang Camp was about to be breached, but things took a turn for the better because of the unexpected joining of a force.

Li Hongdao knew very well that the Sanjiang Camp did not have much strength. Even though it was the base camp where Qi Jiguang fought against the Japanese pirates in Zhejiang Province, it had been a long time since the anti-Japanese war began, more than 20 years, almost 30 years. Li Hongdao was not afraid of the soldiers of the Sanjiang Camp. He was more afraid of the tax office of Taizhou Prefecture.

The interests are converging. As long as Li Hongdao is dealt with, the bureaucrats will cover for him. However, the Taizhou Tax Inspection Office will not do that. The Tax Inspection Office is only responsible for tax inspection. If the tax inspectors say something too much and tell the emperor the truth, Li Hongdao will probably flee to the west, and His Majesty will cut him into pieces.

So Li Hongdao took action against the tax-collecting cavalry.

There are a total of 27 tax inspectors in the Taizhou Tax Inspection Office. In Li Hongdao's opinion, with such a small number of people, wouldn't it be a piece of cake for them to capture the tax as long as they give the order?
Li Hongdao gave the order and Li Hongdao almost died.

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At this time, Li Hongdao realized what it meant to have independent armed forces. Li Hongdao thought that the Ti cavalry were as weak as the Sanjiang camp soldiers, but the Ti cavalry, who were born into the rank of Duntai Yuanhou and the coastal defense inspectors, were extremely brave in combat.

You want to collect taxes without any ability?

Zhang Juzheng said that the emperor's tax collection was a style of a mountain king and was a way of collecting protection money. Li Yashi said that the emperor's tax stamps were not tax stamps, but indulgences. If he wanted to collect protection money and sell indulgences, how could he collect them without some strength? How could he sell them?
Li Hongdao was a Jinshi graduate, and he looked down on soldiers from the bottom of his heart. He was a scholar who had never seen a war, so he really didn't know the fighting power of the Ti cavalry.

Even in Li Hongdao's mind, there is no difference between firearms and fireworks.

There are a total of twenty-seven Tax Inspection Cavalry. According to the latest imperial decree, each Tax Inspection Cavalry can only lead fifty archers. Although the Tax Inspection Cavalry only gathered less than three hundred people in a hurry, it is enough, and these more than three hundred people are just doing miscellaneous work.

Twenty-seven Ti cavalrymen were dispatched, divided into nine teams, and on a street less than three miles long, relying on the terrain of the pavilions, they blocked the attack of nearly five hundred people.

Not only that, these 27 imperial guards even launched a counterattack and almost captured the Taizhou government office. The imperial guards carried out a total of seven tentative attacks, but all without any effect. Then Li Hongdao climbed up the wall to check the situation and saw a nine-jin cannon with the fuse already lit!
Li Hongdao swore that he had never heard such a loud noise in his life, and it was not an exaggeration to say that it was deafening.

But the imperial guards did not finally break into the Taizhou government office. After firing the cannon, they rushed towards the Chonghe Gate in a show of force. The Sanjiang Camp was in danger. The imperial guards knew that the key to the conflict was the Sanjiang Camp, which must not be breached. Besides, if the imperial guards breached the government office, they would be suspected of rebellion, after all, that was His Majesty's government office.

The Ti cavalry went to the Sanjiang Camp, with muskets, artillery and cavalry, in teams of three, and they defeated the returning bandit group that the gentry were so proud of, and rescued the Sanjiang Camp.

By the time Shen Shixing arrived, the Tiqi and Sanjiang Camp had already surrounded the Taizhou government office, and the situation had completely reversed.

"Greetings, Governor." The tax collector Su Chengping, with twenty-seven imperial guards, met Shen Shixing, Yan Shixuan and others who had arrived overnight.

"What happened?" Shen Shixing was a little confused. The battle report he heard was that the Sanjiang Camp was surrounded, but what he saw was that the Taizhou government office was surrounded.

Su Chengping was from Sichuan. When he was seven years old, he followed his father to Guanzhong. Later, his father became a Yanxing people, that is, they went out of the pass to Hetao to farm, and returned to the pass in autumn and winter. When he was seventeen years old, he joined the army. Later, he became a Duntai Yuanhou in Datong Prefecture. After serving as Duntai Yuanhou for three years, he was selected to become a Tiqi. Because he was good at accounting, he became a tax cavalry.

Su Chengping told Shen Shixing everything.

"I heard that Xiang Yu led 28 riders to break out from Gaixia to Wujiang and killed hundreds of people. I also heard that Liu Yu chased away tens of thousands of people with his sword. I thought they were all jokes, but I didn't expect them to be true." Yan Shixuan was shocked to hear that only 27 Ti riders had caused such a big change on the battlefield.

Are the elites so powerful?

Su Chengping smiled and said, "This is nothing. In the past, the three of us were on the grassland and we also chased hundreds of people. This was mainly a matter of morale. It was just a mob."

It is not an exaggeration to say that a small number of elite soldiers chasing hundreds or even thousands of people has happened frequently in history. The Song Dynasty had the most achievements in this regard.

There are three reasons why this phenomenon occurs in cold weapon combat.

The first is armor. If someone with armor fights against someone without armor, the result will be a crushing defeat. Without armor, there is no way to fight at all. This is why swords, spears, halberds, and bows were banned in all dynasties, but armor was also banned. Wearing armor to meet the emperor without reason is treason.

The second reason is effective attack. It seems that 500 people are fighting against 27 people, but in fact one person only needs to face a few people at most, and the rest can only wait for the person in front to fall before they can continue. Not all 500 people can hit these 27 people at the same time.

The third reason is morale. On the battlefield, if there are a hundred enemies, the first ten can be killed quickly, and the last ninety can be killed even faster, because when ten people fall down like wheat being cut, fear will spread and morale will collapse. Under the control of fear, escape becomes inevitable.

The Ti cavalry were equipped with iron armor, were well-trained, had firearms and muskets, and had the advantage of terrain such as streets. The enemy was a group of returning bandits, a motley crowd, which is why they were able to achieve such a result.

This is also the terrifying thing about the linear musket formation. Under the bombardment of artillery, the targeting of armored men by muskets, the large-scale killing by bird guns, and the harassment by light cavalry, the legion that mainly uses cold weapons is no match at all.

Yan Shixuan said with some emotion: "This Li Hongdao is so handsome, why did he provoke the tax collectors?"

Su Chengping looked around and whispered, "Governor Shen has to say a few good words for us. We are fighting back. I don't know what Li Hongdao is crazy about. He attacked us first. Later, we heard that the Sanjiang Camp was surrounded, so we had to go to rescue it."

It was okay for the imperial guards to fight back, and even to bombard the government office, but running to Sanjiang Camp to rescue the soldiers and civilians of Sanjiang Camp was beyond the authority and responsibility of the tax inspectors. The Tax Inspection Office was only responsible for collecting taxes, and this was an iron rule.

But Su Chengping is a human being. He was instilled with the idea that saving the people is the same as reporting to the emperor, and maintaining local stability is the same as ensuring the stability of His Majesty's imperial power. So he issued an order to quell the rebellion and took the imperial guards to resolve the siege of Sanjiang Camp.

Someone will definitely use this as an excuse. At this time, if Shen Shixing, the governor of Zhejiang, can say a few good words, the Taizhou Tax Office will not be so passive.

Shen Shixing thought for a moment and said, "Li Hongdao's attack on the Taxation Bureau is a rebellion. When a rebellion occurs, it is only natural for all armed forces to participate in suppressing the rebellion. The tax law is being revised. I will write a memorial to the capital to explain this matter."

"Thank you, Governor! I will withdraw first then." Su Chengping finally breathed a sigh of relief and left with the imperial guards.

What Li Hongdao should have done was to bribe Su Chengping and others in the Tax Inspection Office instead of wiping out the Tax Inspection Office. This was an extremely wrong order.

But the tax inspection office is difficult to bribe, because if you bribe the tax inspectors, you can easily become their target. The tax inspectors' primary challenge is to find the scum who evades taxes.

The Tax Inspection Office also has performance evaluations.

"Go in and arrest Li Hongdao." Shen Shixing waved his hand, and the soldiers of Luomuying behind him rushed into the Taizhou government office which had been bombed out. Shen Shixing thought there would be a fierce battle, but it turned out that he had arrived and could solve it just by waving his hand.

The Ming Dynasty's strong error correction mechanism took effect in a strange way.

Soldiers from Luomuying captured Li Hongdao, who was trying to hang himself, at Qinxin Pavilion in the back mountain.

Shen Shixing had been thinking about whether it was reasonable for the Tax Inspection Office and the Imperial Guards to participate in the suppression of the rebellion. After much thought, he still felt that it was reasonable, because the Tax Inspection Office's tax inspection was for the continuation of the dynasty, and suppressing the rebellion was also for the rule of the dynasty.

If, when acts of treason occur, all armed forces should be involved in suppressing the rebellion, and the Tax Inspection Office is granted the power to suppress the rebellion, then the power of the Tax Inspection Office will be expanded, and the Tax Inspection Office must be a pure armed force in order to truly become the ballast of the local area.

However, if the violence in the Tax Inspection Office gets out of control, it will become the biggest threat to the local area.

For example, if the emperor who controls this armed force is no longer wise, the Tax Inspection Office can rob and plunder in the name of suppressing rebellion for the emperor, because everything is legal.

When the soldiers were arresting people, Shen Shixing thought about it for a long time and finally felt that it would be better not to write it into a written law, but to have it in the form of unspoken rules. Once the emperor is no longer wise, it can be directly banned to prevent the violence of the Tax Inspection Office from getting out of control.

"Are you Shen Shiqing?" Shen Shixing saw another criminal, Shen Shiqing, the instructor of Donghu Academy who was tied up. He was a juren from Hangzhou. If it weren't for him, things wouldn't have gotten to this point.

"Yes!" Shen Shiqing was very excited. He shouted, "You can kill me or chop me up as you like! I don't regret it! Governor Yan, tell my mother that I'm not a coward!"

Shen Shiqing didn't know Shen Shixing, but he knew Yan Shixuan. After all, a juren could become an official and could meet the prefect. Obviously, Shen Shiqing didn't understand the situation. He felt that he had also been arrested and that Shen Shixing was here to help Li Hongdao settle the matter.

It is true that he has no regrets. If Shen Shiqing were to do it again, he would still open the gate and let the tenants in. But it is a lie to say that he is not afraid of death.

"Very good." Shen Shixing showed a sunny smile and said with emotion: "Very good, sir, you always tell me that the Han Dynasty has loyal people from generation to generation, and it is true."

"Your Majesty said: Since ancient times, there have been people who work hard, people who work hard, people who plead for the people, and people who sacrifice their lives for the law. This is the backbone of China. Only with conviction and without self-deception can we hold up the sky."

"You're fine."

Shen Shiqing is very young, as young as Your Majesty, in his twenties. This is hope. Of all things in the world, the most feared thing is the lack of successors.

Shen Shixing had worried more than once that if all of them left, His Majesty would be left alone, wondering how long he could hold on and how far he could go. But now Shen Shixing no longer had such concerns, because His Majesty would have more than just their group of followers by his side.

Shen Shiqing made his choice and benefited from it. In the future, he will make the same choice.

(End of this chapter)