The World Online

Chapter 984 – Ming Dynasty Four Powers

At that very moment, another System Notification rang out.

“World Notification: To celebrate four years of the game, Gaia will hold the 2nd world auction on the 5th year, 1st month, 5th day at 10 AM. Friendly Reminder: To participate in the auction, one must have no less than one million gold.”

…

Gaia was quite humane this time, as it gave everyone some time to prepare and digest the new update and information piece. It did not rush the auction.

In the blink of an eye, it was the 5th year, 1st month, 1st day.

To Ouyang Shuo, the important matter to handle would be the new round of hidden building summoning chances. Apart from the usual Recruitment Hall, there was the General Appointment Stage, the Wanming Pagoda, and the Golden Stage.

Maybe it was a result of his high luck stat, but after one round of summoning, he had huge gains. Who knows whether it was a coincidence or planned by Gaia, but the people he summoned were all from the Ming Dynasty.

From the Recruitment Hall he summoned a Ming Dynasty minister – Yan Song.

Name: Yan Song (Emperor Rank)

Dynasty: Ming Dynasty

Identity: Great Xia Civil Servant

Occupation: Civil Servant

Loyalty: 75

Command: 45

Force: 35

Intelligence: 80

Politics: 88

Specialty: Power (raises dynasty administrative efficiency by 20%, raises dynasty income by 5%, raises ruling standard of dynasty by 10%)

Evaluation: He was notorious for being corrupt and for dominating the Ming government for two decades as the Grand Secretary during the reign of the Jiajing Emperor.

The Ming records listed him as one of the six unscrupulous ministers. The Ming records said that he did not have talent and schemed his way to the top.

The Chinese people loved to split black from white; you were either good or you were bad. However, people forgot that a person could be neutral; this middle ground existed.

From a young age, Yan Song was a smart little star. He became a juren at 19 and a jingshi at 26.

His private life was a really normal and orthodox one. In regards to his private life, there was pretty much nothing one could talk about. He only married one wife – Ouyang Ming. Ouyang Ming was a year older than him, and their relationship was good. Yan Song did not want to have a group of wives just because of his high position.

Yan Song served the Jiajing Emperor who commited many evils and loved to live a life of luxury.

In the end, he was just the scapegoat of the Jiajing Emperor and took the blame for him for many things.

Yan Song was the Grand Secretary for 10 odd years, but his personal wealth was not as much as famous people like Xu Jie, Xu Jie, and Zhang Ju. Although Grand Secretaries had a good reputation, their wealth was something a corrupt official like Yan Song could not catch up to.

Of course, Yan Song could not be said to be a good official. He climbed his way to the top by stepping on his enemies, and he even let his son Yan Shifan get away with murder. However, if one was a neutral, one would view him as a skilled power minister.

It all depended on how the ruler would utilize such a person.

Ouyang Shuo was really bold, and he directly recruited him into the Cabinet as an elder. Toward such an old man, Ouyang Shuo only instructed him with one sentence, “Elder, I will make it clear, Yan Shifan will never be an official.”

A light flashed in his eyes as he bowed, “The king is wise.”

In history, Yan Shifan was a ticking time bomb that the Jiajing Emperor planned to harm Yan Song.

…

The honest and upright official summoned in the Wanming Pavilion was the school of mind great contributor – Wang Shouren.

Name: Wang Shouren (Emperor Rank)

Dynasty: Ming Dynasty

Identity: Great Xia Civil Servant

Occupation: Civil Servant

Loyalty: 75

Command: 75

Force: 40

Intelligence: 88

Politics: 75

Specialty: School of Mind (raises dynasty administrative efficiency by 20%, raises dynasty academic factions standards by 20%)

Book: Yangming Encyclopedia

Evaluation: Wang Shouren was one of the top grade people of the Ming Dynasty. He contributed a lot, earning credit, karma, and the like.

Wang Shouren was known as the person who started the school of mind and was proficient at Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism.

He became a Jingshi in the 12th year of Hongzhi. Later, he served as an executive assistant in various government departments until he was banished for offending a eunuch in 1506 AD.

In 1519 AD, he was governor of Jiangxi Province and was on his way to suppress the revolts in Fujian. At that time, Wang Shouren was suddenly faced with the Prince of Ning rebellion that was led by Zhu Chenhaothe fourth Prince of Ning. He stopped it and was given the titles Marquis and Completion of Culture. In 1584 AD, he was offered sacrifice in the Confucian Temple, which was the highest honor for a scholar.

As the founder of the school of mind, King Zi, Meng Zi, Zhu Xi, and Wang Shouren were known as Kong, Meng, Zhu, and Wang.

Wang Shouren was said to be one of the greatest contributors to Chinese ideological development by later generations. There were not many people in the modern day that had the right to criticize him.

The Wang Shouren that appeared in front of Ouyang Shuo was thin. His face was sunken inward like a cultivator from the deep mountains instead of a civil servant.

Ouyang Shuo said, “Kong Zi is in the Xinan University, would you like to go to the same place?”

Due to personal and public reasons, Ouyang Shuo hoped that the school of mind could shine in Great Xia. Who knew that Wang Yangming would smile and say, “The school of mind needs to merge real life experience with study and cannot be perfected in a university. Please allow me to go down to the land to study the people.”

Ouyang Shuo was enlightened, and he smiled and said, “Great! Chuanbei Province is lacking a Provincial Governor, so you can proceed there.”

Wang Yangming bowed and accepted the role.

…

The Golden Stage summoned Yan Song’s greatest disciple, Hu Zongxian.

Name: Hu Zongxian (Emperor Rank)

Dynasty: Ming Dynasty

Identity: Great Xia Civil Servant

Occupation: Civil Servant

Loyalty: 75

Command: 72

Force: 40

Intelligence: 80

Politics: 85

Specialty: Loyalty to the Country (raises dynasty administrative efficiency by 20%, raises dynasty ruling standards by 10%)

Evaluation: Hu Zongxian is really talented, and he was termed as the southeast pillar of the Jiajing Emperor.

Hu Zongxian’s family was from the Jinyi Guards. In the 19th year of Jiajing, he was appointed as the County Magistrate of Yidu County.

During the southeast chaotic time, he became the Zhizhe Provincial Governor.

By the 41st year of Jiajing, he had obtained never before seen success in his battle against the Japanese, which once again calmed down the Japanese problem in Zhejiang.

Who would have known that the day he succeeded would be the day his bad luck arrived?

In the same year, Cabinet Grand Secretary Yan Song was removed, and his son was captured. Hu Zongxian, who was a member of the Yan Faction, lost his helper in the dynasty and was punished by the newly appointed Grand Secretary with accusations regarding the 10 big crimes.

In the 44th year of Jiajing, after Hu Bingxian was removed from his post for two years, he was brought to the capital where he killed himself in jail.

In the 6th year of Longqing, the Imperial Court helped to overturn his case and clear his name.

Ouyang Shuo naturally was delighted about gaining a talent like Hu Bingxian. However, he did not immediately arrange an appointment for Hu Bingxian.

With Hu Bingxian’s talents, the best position for him would be Provincial Governor. However, there were not any spare spaces at the moment, so Ouyang Shuo planned to take down Annan first before making further plans.

Ouyang Shuo said, “Do not be anxious, just stay in the Imperial Court for a while. I have plans for you.”

“Understood!”

Since his teacher Yan Song had already entered the Cabinet, Hu Bingxian naturally did not need to worry.

…

The general he recruited from the General Appointment Stage had some relationship with Hu Bingxian; he was the famous Ming Dynasty general – Qin Jiguang.

Name: Qin Jiguang (Emperor Rank)

Dynasty: Ming Dynasty

Identity: Great Xia General

Occupation: Advanced General

Loyalty: 75

Command: 78

Force: 70

Intelligence: 50

Politics: 55

Specialty: Anti-Japanese General (raises troops combat strength by 25%, raises troops naval battle standards by 15%, raises troops movement speed by 20%)

Evaluation: Qin Jiguang was a strict general who used rewards and punishments on his soldiers to make them give their all. The battles against the Japanese made him famous.

Qin Jiguang was good at training troops, and the army that he trained was known as the Qin family army.

The Mandarin duck array he made stunned the world, and it became a great weapon against the Japanese.

Qin Jiguang was also an amazing weapons specialist and engineer. He modified and invented various weapons, and he improved the weapons of his time like the Qin Family military knife as well as the Langxian, which was used against the Japanese.

Building warships and chariots caused the Ming army navy passageways to be stronger than the enemy.

Apart from that, Qin Jiguang used his creativity to make an empty hard tower on top of the city walls that could be used to attack and defend; it was a really special military project.

Toward a general like Qin Jiguang, Ouyang Shuo did not hesitate and directly appointed him as the Binhai Squadron Fleet Admiral to be in charge of going against the three squadrons of the Yanhuang Alliance.

At this point, the Ming Dynasty generals took up half of the Great Xia Army, becoming the core of the navy.

…

Since the Jiajing Emperor, the Ming Dynasty was filled with internal and external problems; it was a dynasty filled with tragedy. Apart from Wang Yangming, Yan Song, Hu Zongxian, and Qin Jiguang all the others ended up in dire straits.

Not only them, but even the famous Xu Jie and Zhang Juzheng both had bad endings.

One could say it was an era of tragedy.

Maybe this was an arrangement by fate, but all these people were gathered in Great Xia to be utilized by Ouyang Shuo in a dynasty that was totally different from the Ming Dynasty.

Ouyang Shuo was looking forward to the new ideals that these people could bring. The current Great Xia definitely would not make the same mistakes as Great Ming.

And just as Ouyang Shuo was meeting Yan Song and the others, a change happened in Zhongyuan.