The loss of income from porcelain exports was a heavy blow to both the Annan and the Northern and Southern Dynasties.

The Northern Dynasty, which occupied the Red River Plain, was better off. They had paddy fields that could produce three harvests a year, so the military and civilians could always have food to eat.

This was a big problem for the Southern Dynasty, which had limited arable land and could not be self-sufficient in food. Originally, they relied on producing a large amount of porcelain to attract sea merchants to transport food, weapons and other necessary materials for trade in order to maintain their population and combat effectiveness.

Now that porcelain was gone and the sea merchants had stopped coming, Zheng Song was helpless and had no choice but to rob his neighbors. He was forced to immediately launch a northern expedition and at the same time ordered Nguyen Hoang in Quang Nam to plunder Champa.

Originally, the Northern Dynasty would have fallen into internal strife after Mo Jingdian's death, and all the elite soldiers and generals would have killed each other in vain. Zheng Song only needed to prepare his troops for ten years, wait for them to become rotten, and then march north to win the battle.

However, Zheng Song was forced to march north ten years earlier because of the economic crisis created by Zhao Hao. At this time, the elite soldiers and generals of the Northern Dynasty were still there! When the court saw that Zheng Song was coming, they could no longer care about the internal struggle and could only unite to face the outside world.

As a result, Zheng Song encountered great resistance in his Northern Expedition. The two sides fought fiercely and the Red River was really dyed red.

Besides, wars are fought on logistics. The Northern Dynasty fought at home, so they had no worries about supplies. With the support of the Celestial Empire, they could always buy the weapons and ammunition they needed. Even tiger squat cannons and Portuguese cannons could always be bought as long as they were willing to be slaughtered.

After Zheng Song's sea trade was cut off, the land route to the south was blocked by the coast guard, and he was completely isolated from the outside world. Even if he had money, he couldn't spend it. Besides, he was already poor. Naturally, the war became weaker and weaker, and the Southern Dynasty also fell into famine.

But Zheng Song could not stop the Northern Expedition just to consume the population. During the march, facing the Red River Plain after the Northern Dynasty cleared the fields, he often felt that he was Kong Ming. He deeply understood Zhuge Liang's helplessness in going to Qishan six times.

At this moment, Nguyen Hoang, who was forced to Guangnan by him, led his defeated troops back to Hue. Zheng Song couldn't sleep well.

Zhao Hao only needs to build the isolation wall, move a stool on it and watch the monkey show. Wait until the three families have bled dry before taking action...

~~

But what Zhao Liben meant was that you don't plan to be the emperor, so just take advantage of the time and enjoy yourself. Why bother with all that?

The old man was very dissatisfied with Zhao Hao's announcement that he would never "return to Zhao". He always felt that this was just making things easier for others, and it was too boring. He even refused to attend the annual Sanya Hai Tian Grand Banquet...

Zhao Hao could only comfort the old man by saying, I have not excluded the Zhao family from the group's successors.

Although the next successor will definitely not be named Zhao, maybe the next successor will be a member of our Zhao family.

In any case, the Zhao family has a great advantage in promotion in the group. However, they also have to climb up step by step and make solid achievements to convince the public. This is the only way to ensure that there will be no waste like Song Huizong and Ming Baozong to take over.

"Stop talking nonsense." Zhao Liben was not someone who could be fooled. He snorted and said, "Without the succession of the father and the eldest son, who can predict the future?"

"If they can't get in even with their father's help, then not getting in is the best outcome." Zhao Hao said calmly, "The Zhao family was destroyed twice, isn't that enough?"

"Well, that's right..." Zhao Liben couldn't argue with him and wanted to slap him, but he raised his hand and put it down again.

Given my grandson’s current status, I cannot touch him and I have to consider his dignity.

The old man smiled bitterly, sighed and said, "What age am I? I don't care and I won't ask. You can do whatever you want."

"How could that be possible? An old man in the family is like a treasure." Zhao Hao hurriedly threw the scepter to Gao Wu behind him, and supported Zhao Liben and said, "Don't look at my father as the prime minister. You can say what you need to say and beat him up if you want. He will definitely not say a word." Then he whispered, "Don't even mention me..."

"Hahaha, of course you are, little brat." The old man's self-esteem was greatly satisfied, and he laughed heartily and said, "Without me, there would be no you."

Old children are old children, and the real truth is to coax them, not to really reason with them.

As the grandfather and grandson were chatting and laughing, they saw Chang Kaiche, deputy director of the Security Department and chief of the Communications Section, running up the mountain, panting.

Even though Lao Chang is just a section chief, in addition to the routine clerical correspondence of the Security Department, he is also in charge of the entire group's telegram sending and receiving, as well as radio stations in various places, and he has several thousand people under him.

However, he did not miss any opportunity to show off in front of the big boss, and personally delivered the telegram from the capital to Zhao Hao.

Zhao Hao unscrewed the wax seal on the letter tube, pulled out the translated message, read it, handed it to the old man and said, "The capital is really lively."

Zhao Shouye quickly took out his reading glasses for Zhao Liben. After the old man put them on and finished reading, he took off his glasses and sneered, "Didn't you say that you would let them jump as much as they want? Why can't you hold back and attack before they have jumped twice?"

"Didn't my father ask for it?" Zhao Hao took off his wide-brimmed hat and touched the indentation on his forehead. This material still needs to be improved.

"When encountering problems, he always looks for his son. Is this what a prime minister can do?" Zhao Liben snorted.

"The situation is somewhat unexpected." Zhao Hao handed the hat to Gao Wu, took the pipe, and refilled it skillfully while saying helplessly: "I thought that if Lao Xier was suppressed, there would be no problem. But I didn't expect that the trend of settling accounts with my father-in-law would still arise, and it is so powerful."

"Lao Xi'er is the most dishonest, a bunch of two-faced people." Zhao Liben said indifferently: "Besides, Zhang Taiyue has offended so many people. There is also the shadow of Taizhou Sect here, and even your disciples are mixed in. It would be strange if there is no chaos."

As he said this, he smiled and said meaningfully, "Why did all the gods reach an unprecedented consensus on how to deal with Zhang Juzheng? You must take this as a warning.

"Grandpa means..." Zhao Hao lit his pipe.

"Wang Wuyang said a lot of good things to those guys. It seems that he thinks their worries are justified." Zhao Liben said dimly.

"It's normal. Although everyone takes turns using the spoon in the same pot, we still eat separately." Zhao Hao smiled bitterly and took a puff of his pipe. "There's nothing we can do. Replacing officials with cadres in the future is an established policy and no one can change it. Either we go with the flow and become cadres, or we can just do science in the forest. God won't let the sparrows starve to death. Since they are my disciples, how can I not have food to eat?"

"But many people don't want to switch or quit, they just want to be like this now." Zhao Liben greedily inhaled the smell of tobacco. In order to live a few more years and prevent his son from repeating the mistakes of his predecessor, he followed Zhao Hao's advice and quit smoking two years ago. He can only breathe second-hand smoke to satisfy his addiction...

"Then we can only wait and see." Zhao Hao held his pipe and said coldly, "Since it's a revolution, some people have to sacrifice. Besides, I won't take their lives. At most, I will send them to develop Australia."

"Isn't it Africa?" Zhao Shouye was stunned.

"Going to Africa is called an overseas work assignment." Zhao Hao coughed lightly. Australia is the standard place of exile.

"Are you not going to punish those disciples who formed a small gang?" Zhao Liben said, "I think they are all talented people and will be able to make things happen in the future."

"Grandpa really has a keen eye." Zhao Hao bit his pipe and clapped his hands softly.

Gu Xiancheng and other Donglin Party founders were more than just powerful. They were simply bringing disaster to the country and the people.

Although the evaluations on them have always been polarized and there are many different opinions, you can't expect to convince everyone by writing a paper.

But from the perspective of result-oriented theory, it is undoubted that Donglin started the party struggles in the late Ming Dynasty; they used their political influence to favor the Jiangnan region without any bottom line, ignored or at least did not pay attention to the north, and allowed it to become a hell on earth under natural disasters and wars. Therefore, it is undoubted that they should at least bear a major responsibility for the demise of the Ming Dynasty.

However, we cannot simply condemn them for this, because in the future there will always be someone to represent the interests of the bureaucratic landlords and the industrial and commercial classes in Jiangnan.

Now it is the Jiangnan Group that represents them, but Zhao Hao wants the Jiangnan Group to represent the overall interests of the Chinese nation, so it cannot just be their spokesperson.

Over time, they will definitely find new spokespersons. If there is no Donglin Party, there will be Xilin Party. In short, someone will definitely fill this ecological niche.

It would be better to keep Gu Xiancheng and the others to occupy the ecological niche that would be vacated in the future. They were under his control, and they still had the status of master and apprentice. At least when he was alive, they would not do anything out of the ordinary.

Moreover, Gu Xiancheng and others had already been included in the special care list by the Special Operations Department, so they could only be members of the Donglin Party, and could not become members of the Donglin Party...

After thinking for a while, Zhao Hao nodded and asked his secretary, "We still have to give him some light punishment. Has the sixth circumnavigation of the world begun?"

"We will depart from Pudong next month." The secretary answered without hesitation.

Today, circumnavigating the world is no longer a rare thing. Inspired by the legendary voyage of Lin Feng and Zhang Xiaojing in the first year of the Wanli reign, many adventurous scholars and young people with dreams of getting rich signed up to become volunteers for the next voyage.

So far this year, the group has organized five round-the-world voyages, and the sixth is about to depart.

"Arrange for them to join, travel around the earth, and broaden their minds." Zhao Hao ordered.

The secretary nodded and quickly wrote it down.

Zhao Shouye swallowed his saliva. Wow, he has been floating on the sea for at least two years...

~~

"How do you plan to help your father?" Zhao Liben asked again.

"We need to find someone to help him take the blame. This time the blame is too big for him to bear alone." Zhao Hao said with a smile.

In fact, he knew very well that the reason why the current liquidation of Zhang Juzheng was so unstoppable was not only because of Emperor Wanli's personal factors, but also because the censors and the six ministries joined forces to limit the power of the cabinet.

If you understand this, you will know why they are targeting the current cabinet ministers and even coercing Prime Minister Zhao...

Once you figure out the cause, you'll know how to prescribe the medicine.

"Also, we need to divert the conflict and not let them just bite the dead." Zhao Hao said calmly: "How fun is it to bite the living?"

Indeed, what happened in Beijing was not a big deal to him.