Chapter 112
Businessmen actually have a very keen sense of smell. As early as when Cheng Shijie led Ning Haijun across Liaonan, businessmen who were originally doing business in Ninghai City also followed Cheng Shijie to Liaonan.
Although southern Liaoning is still a commercial desert, the problem is that businesses understand one thing: as long as there are people, there will be demand, and as long as there is demand, there will be business.
When Ning Haijun migrated, although the population was not as large as it is now, including the prisoners of Ning Haijun, there were still 50,000 or 60,000 people. These fifty or sixty thousand people are the size of a medium-sized county town.
During the Ming Dynasty, there were 188 prefectures in 13 provinces, with a total of 1,427 counties. The average population of each county exceeded 100,000. But in fact, densely populated areas such as Henan, Shandong, and Beizhili A county may have a population of more than 200,000 people. In the sparsely populated southwest, northwest, and northeast areas, a county may have a population of less than 30,000 people.
Jinzhou and Gaizhou are currently controlled by Ning Haijun. Since Gaizhou is relatively close to the area controlled by Jiannu and focuses on military defense, Ning Haijun currently has more than 500 military camps, and new ones are added every day. Household residence means that the population in southern Liaoning has expanded to the size of a county.
In addition to the various factories controlled by Cheng Shijie himself, there are also many privately owned factories owned by businessmen. In particular, nearly half of the mills in Jinzhou, more than one third of the fur processing factories, and some small textile factories all follow Cheng Shijie. The merchants who came across the sea organized it themselves.
Especially in Jinzhou City, the commercial land that has been sold has exceeded 300,000 taels of silver. In Jinzhou City, Cheng Shijie has a good eye, and no one dares to play tricks with Cheng Shijie.
At least those who have dealt with Cheng Shijie know very well that Cheng Shijie is a man of rules. As long as he acts according to his rules and pays taxes according to his prescribed standards, no one will come to trouble them, and merchants can live in peace. do business.
However, the merchants in those towns are actually small businessmen. After all, the cheapest commercial and industrial land Cheng Shijie has in Jinzhou City costs 1,500 taels of silver. Only those who do not have the capital to buy land and build shops in Jinzhou City Only businessmen would go to various towns to do business.
Cheng Shijie said: "I am planning to set up urban management and law enforcement brigades in various towns, Jinzhou and Gaizhou cities, referred to as urban management. This urban management enforcement brigade will be subordinate to..."
It was only now that Cheng Shijie discovered that he was managing Liaonan in a militarized manner and that there was no government agency. It would be more convenient and more efficient to adopt military control.
But the problem is that it will easily lead to military and political chaos in the future. Although the urban management work is trivial and not big, it is closely related to ordinary people. In later generations, Cheng Shijie was also an ordinary citizen.
The common people are really not afraid of big tigers, corrupt officials, or big thieves. Although these people are hateful and deserve to be killed, they are too far away from the lives of the common people. They seem to live in two different worlds, except for newspapers and news. , there will be almost no contact with each other, and naturally there will be no strong hatred.
What really makes ordinary people fear and hate are petty officials, local ruffians, and village bandits. These people do not have much background, and they may not cause much harm, but the harm they cause to the people is the most painful and direct! And there are many of these people, too numerous to count.
Recently, the Internet has been abuzz with the Pingyang murder case in Wenzhou, Zhejiang, but in fact, as early as six years ago, in 2017, a similar case occurred in the author's hometown. The criminal suspect Lu Mou armed with a knife killed three people on the spot and injured four others. Two seriously injured people died despite ineffective rescue efforts...
This is a very important question.
If a city wants to be managed cleanly, neatly and beautifully, it is inseparable from urban management. However, during the implementation process of urban management, if the law is improperly enforced, it is most likely to arouse public anger and cause the government to lose credibility.
The management of the newly established urban management is subject to three levels of jurisdiction: Chen Guodong's Supervisory Military and Road Department manages law enforcement, Yang Yuniang's Finance Department oversees the accounts, and it accepts the command of the newly formed Civil Affairs Department.
Although it is impossible to prevent problems from arising from the system, now we can only cross the river by feeling the stones, solve problems when they arise.
The Civil Affairs Bureau was also the civil affairs management agency that Cheng Shijie decided to establish. Although Cheng Shijie turned the farmers in southern Liaoning into field troops and accepted the management of the Military Affairs Administration, the problem was that there were still too many factories, especially factories for people's livelihood, which were not conveniently managed by the Military Affairs Administration. , such as the production of tableware, bedding, clothes, textile factories, agricultural tool factories, furniture factories, etc.
Separation of military and political affairs is something that must be done. It is better to do it sooner rather than later. Just like during the founding of the Song Dynasty, Song Taizu also realized that Kaifeng as a country has too many limitations. First of all, unlike Luoyang, there are eight outer passes to defend. Although the Yellow River is a natural danger, the problem is that the middle and lower reaches can cross the river. There were too many places. He once proposed to move the capital, but was resisted by the vested interest groups of the Song Dynasty, especially the resistance led by Zhao Guangyi, the governor of Kaifeng at the time. The matter had to end without any problem.
Whoever eats the meat in his mouth will definitely not spit it out.
The urban management brigade has the jurisdiction of the urban management squadron and the urban management squad. Each town has an urban management squad with one captain and eleven members. Four adjacent towns are combined into one squadron, with one urban management squadron captain and one deputy captain.
The urban management squadron leader is at the same level as the sentry commander. At the same time, the urban management brigade has eleven squadrons with a total of 550 people. Cheng Shijie's adopted son Cheng Shi serves as the urban management brigade captain. The urban management brigade is not equipped with armor, nor is it equipped with swords and guns. Like the three squads of government officials in all counties in the Central Plains, they are equipped with five iron rulers, five water and fire sticks, and the captain and deputy captain are equipped with dog-leg knives.
In order to distinguish Ning Haijun from the military law corps, Ning Haijun's urban management uniform is a blue short shirt, wearing the red and black hat of a yamen officer. Of course, due to the cold weather in southern Liaoning, the hat and uniform are divided into two types, cotton clothes in winter and standard uniforms. The military uniforms are the same, consisting of cotton jackets, cotton trousers, cotton shoes and cotton coats, plus a red and black warm hat. In summer, they wear single clothes.
Agriculture is the lifeblood of a country. If there is a problem in agricultural production, the entire country will have big problems. The saying "food is the first priority for the people" is no joke. Nowadays, there are constant natural disasters in the north of the Ming Dynasty, and agriculture is on the verge of collapse. It is impossible not to think about unrest, and unrest means war, and war means rivers of blood!
The Ming Dynasty, whose national destiny has lasted for nearly three hundred years, has entered a countdown. Regimes that cannot allow the people to have enough to eat will be overthrown without mercy. This is an iron law.
When the Civil Affairs Bureau was established, Cheng Shijie currently had no decent talents, and Ma Shilin, Qin Bocheng, Lu Conglong, and Sun Benju did not dare to trust him. Cheng Shijie could only take part in the Civil Affairs Bureau's political participation.
On the New Year's Eve of the fourth year of Chongzhen, according to the regulations of later generations, it was time for a holiday.
In fact, the Ning Haijun and Tuntian troops in southern Liaoning, as well as the factory workers, have all had a holiday. The only ones who have not taken a holiday are Cheng Shijie's four praise paintings, forty-three mayors, directors of various factories, and big businessmen. There were more than three hundred people in total.
"Meet the Marshal!"
"Everyone, please excuse me!"
Cheng Shijie looked at the mayors, factory directors and businessmen sitting below and said: "Outside, I am the commander-in-chief of the Ning Navy, the general who controls the Dongjiang Army and conquers prisoners. You call Cheng the commander-in-chief, there is no problem, but Here, what is this place? This is our Civil Affairs Bureau in southern Liaoning, and it is also our government in southern Liaoning. You should call Cheng Participating in Politics!"
"Yes, meet Shang Zheng!"
Of course, Cheng Shijie appointed himself to participate in politics, and no one present felt there was anything inappropriate.
Cheng Shijie looked at the crowd and said: "Although you have received the invitation to come here for the meeting, I am afraid you still lack understanding of the Liaonan Civil Affairs Bureau, a government agency. So, Cheng will briefly introduce to you the Civil Affairs Bureau, along with the Civil Affairs Bureau, that is, This means that everything except military affairs is managed by the Civil Affairs Bureau, including population, household registration, taxation, commerce, economic management, supervision and management, social management, and appeasing the people!"
It was okay if Cheng Shijie didn't explain, but after explaining like this, almost everyone fainted.
Cheng Shijie explained that the function of the Civil Affairs Bureau was the functional management of the municipal government in later generations, but the problem was that the official management of the Ming Dynasty was too rough.
Cheng Shijie had no way to use it. The government structure of the Ming Dynasty was simple. There were only a few people in a county: the county magistrate, the county magistrate, the governor, and the county lieutenant to manage a large county with hundreds of thousands of people.
In addition, in order to prevent officials from disturbing the people, Zhu Yuanzhang strictly ordered officials not to go to the countryside. Since then, county magistrates cannot leave the county town, and national policies can be implemented up to the county level. Then the question arises, who is managing the townships and villages below the county level for the imperial court. Picture, inside?
That's the gentry.
It would be strange to let the old cat manage the salted fish and not eat them all.
Just like in later generations, because of masks, students take online classes and let students take online classes with their mobile phones. Not to mention 100%, at least 90% of the students have seen a significant decline in their grades because they are all playing with their mobile phones.
In later generations, many people summarized the reasons for the demise of the Ming Dynasty, saying that the demise of the Ming Dynasty was due to official corruption? When it comes to corruption, who can compare to me, the Qing Dynasty? Some people talk about the Little Ice Age. In fact, the north of the Ming Dynasty was not a major grain-producing area at all. Huguang was ripe and the world was rich.
In the Ming Dynasty, food could always satisfy most people. Although it was affected by the Xiaoglacier weather, the problem was that the impact in Huguang and Jiangnan was limited. The problem was that the Ming Dynasty officials lost their ability to execute. Some people say it was a peasant rebellion...
In fact, the most fundamental reason is political carelessness.
At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the gentry class who had been abandoned by the Ming Dynasty found that the court's ability to govern was declining and began to behave like monsters. They welcomed the Manchu cavalry into the pass, thinking that they would be better off if they changed their masters. In fact, after the Manchus entered the customs, they discovered that Zhu Mingchao was too kind to them.
Unfortunately, Zhu Ming died.
The taxes in the Qing Dynasty were heavier than those in the Ming Dynasty, but almost everyone was killed. Per capita had more land, and they could barely survive. Even in the so-called heyday of Kangxi and Qianlong, there were more than 500 recorded peasant uprisings. What our Qing Dynasty is best at is self-pretending. Behind the prosperous times, there are thousands of miles of bare ground and numerous bones.
Cheng Shijie knows the root cause of Daming's disease. He has no better way now. He can only treat the head when it hurts and the feet when it hurts, to solve the problem from the root.
Cheng Shijie saw the reaction of the people below and knew that they didn't understand, so he changed the way so that they could understand, and slowly cultivated his own official team, like the PLA.
"Commander, I would like to tell you about our plan for next year, which is the five years of Chongzhen. First of all, in terms of land reclamation, Ning Haijun currently has a total of 559 land reclamation households, which is more than yesterday. Six, in the coming spring, there will be at least 600 or even 700 farmland households. The reclamation land planned for each farmland household by this political participation is 30,000 acres. Of course, 30,000 acres is only a target, and one-third of it can be completed. Forget it, it means that next year we can farm at least 1.5 million acres in southern Liaoning, and it is expected to exceed 2 million, or even 3 million acres!"
Cheng Shijie smiled and said: "Although the newly cultivated fields will not have a high grain yield due to the poor soil quality, it should not be difficult to produce one stone of grain per acre. I have prepared to plant 700,000 acres of land. There are 400,000 acres of wheat seeds, 400,000 acres of bean seeds, 280,000 acres of corn seeds, and more than 100,000 acres of potatoes and sweet potatoes. Do you all know what this means?"
Zhang Huaize raised his hand and said: "Report!"
"speak!"
Zhang Huaize stood up and said: "This means that our Ning Haijun can basically be self-sufficient in food..."
Sitting at the back, Gu Shizhang timidly raised his hand: "Report!"
"Gu Shizhang, come and tell me!"
"yes!"
Gu Shizhang stood up and said: "It means he will make a fortune next year. Gu has built nineteen mills now. It seems that he needs to recruit more people and expand..."
"That's right!"
Cheng Shijie continued: "There is another problem. Potatoes and sweet potatoes are new crops that are not easy to store. If you want to store them, you can only process the potatoes or sweet potatoes directly into powder, just like flour. If it is made into powder, , placed in a dry environment, there will be no problem if stored for two years.”
The eyes of Gu Shizhang and the businessmen became brighter and brighter.
"Report!"
Gu Shizhang stood up and said, "Cheng Shuai, we don't have the technology to process sweet potato flour and potato flour!"
"You don't have it, but I do!"
Cheng Shijie put several pieces of paper that had been printed in a kraft envelope. He raised his head and said: "Who buys..."
Gu Shizhang was the first to raise his hand and said: "Gu is willing to pay 50,000 taels of silver... 60,000 taels of silver to buy it!"
Gu Shizhang, who was extremely wealthy, kept many businessmen away.
There is no other way. If you have a lot of money, there are many things you can do.
Cheng Shijie shook his head and said: "This technology is not worth that much money, a thousand taels of silver, just a thousand taels of silver!"
Dozens of envelopes were immediately snatched away.
Cheng Shijie continued: "If you buy technology companies, please remember this for me. Anyone who dares to evade taxes will be bankrupt. Let me start with the dirty talk about tax evasion. If you evade taxes for one tael of silver, you will be punished ten times more." One hundred taels of silver will be punished with a penalty of a hundred times. If the tax exceeds 10,000 taels of silver, your home will be confiscated and your clan will be exterminated. Don’t think that if your family is not in Liaonan, there is nothing you can do about me participating in politics. You can try. Handsome soldier, can you go to your place and search your house?"
Several people who were familiar with Zhang Huaize immediately focused their attention on him.
Zhang Huaize shook his head and smiled bitterly.
Laiyang Zhang, who would cause earthquakes if he stamped his foot in Laiyang, had no ability to resist Ning Haijun's army.
Cheng Shijie continued: "The second thing to inform you is that I am participating in politics and plan to build an official road from Lushun to Gaizhou starting next year. This official road adopts a hard-surface design, with a total length of 500 miles, and can run in parallel in one direction. Two carriages, that is, four lanes in both directions.”
The merchants were overjoyed. There was no glutinous rice in southern Liaoning, and there were very few lime kilns, which meant that they had another chance to make a fortune.
"The third thing is that during this period, the thirty-nine mining exploration teams dispatched during this period, after more than a month of hard work, they discovered five iron ore locations. After the New Year, when the ice and snow melt, the iron ore will be mined immediately... …”
"good……"
With the new iron mine, it means that they can use cheap steel as before.
"The fourth thing is that we are not far from Jiannu. If you want to do business with Jiannu, you must report to the Civil Affairs Bureau."
Cheng Shijie said: "Business is only allowed after approval. If you do business privately without reporting, you will be treated as treason and treason, and your home will be confiscated... and your clan will be exterminated. I am not a bloodthirsty person who likes to kill, and I will not kill you and other nine tribes. I won’t cut off your heads, but you will be reformed through labor!”
This meeting was held from the morning of New Year's Eve to the first day of the first lunar month of the fifth year of Chongzhen. But no one among the members who participated in the meeting fell asleep. They ate something when they were hungry, drank some water when they were thirsty, and even went to the toilet for convenience. , all trotting all the way.
Because what is said in this meeting is related to the interests of everyone.
Cheng Shijie covered everything from land reclamation, grain production and processing, the construction of industrial and mining factories, taxation, the tasks that each town needs to undertake, and the rights it should obtain, etc., as well as transportation, production safety, eating, drinking, and diarrhea.
Cheng Shijie stipulated that in the future, a town primary school should be set up in each town to train the children in the town to study for free. After four years of schooling, they would take the high school entrance examination. If they passed the exam, they could enter the Jinzhou Academy.
"Pah, pah, pah, pah..."
With the crisp sound of firecrackers, the fifth year of Chongzhen came as scheduled, and Cheng Shijie also announced the adjournment of the meeting. At the same time, the people attending the meeting also went back to their homes to find their mothers.
The New Year atmosphere in the late Ming Dynasty was far more solemn than that in later generations. Especially in this era of relatively scarce supplies, Cheng Shijie at least completed his task and distributed 20 kilograms of white flour and five buckets of grain to each household.
Although the supply of meat is not enough, each household can still get six taels of mutton, half a catty of pork, and can eat dumplings stuffed with cabbage, pork, and mutton. For these people, this is an unexpected surprise.
Feng Sanniang, the fake Mrs. Cheng, brought warmth to all the women in southern Liaoning. Everyone was given three feet of red silk. Three feet of cloth was too short to make a pair of trousers, and the clothes were a bit too small. As for how to use them, it was their own business. .
Now Cheng Shijie's family is a little weak, so he can only make do with it. In the coming year, Cheng Shijie secretly vowed that by then, every household must have meat.
…
Dengzhou City, Dengzhou Prefecture, is in the backyard of Denglai Governor's Yamen.
Although Sun Yuanhua did not hold a government work meeting like Liaonan did, in fact he had an extremely difficult year.
As the governor of Denglai, he was the most capable member of the Western Han Party, except for the second person under the party leader Xu Guangqi.
In fact, Sun Yuanhua was actually a blessing in disguise at this time.
According to historical circumstances, he should have been charged because of the Kong Youde Rebellion and was almost impeached. However, because Cheng Shijie traveled across southern Liaoning and regained Jinzhou and Gaizhou, Cheng Shijie was not promoted in terms of merit, but due to a strange combination of circumstances, Cheng Shijie was not promoted. Xu Guangqi was sent to the cabinet.
He entered the cabinet six months earlier than in history and became the second assistant of the Ming Dynasty cabinet. The Western Han Party also benefited from this. Many Western missionaries came to him and asked to go to southern Liaoning to preach.
Sun Yuanhua did not dare to hide Xu Guangqi's secrets, so he told Xu Guangqi the secret of the Dengzhou mutiny, and stated that the relationship between Cheng Shijie and him was not as rumored by the outside world. Cheng Shijie was the number one general under Sun Yuanhua's sect.
Nonsense.
Is there any general who locked his immediate boss, the governor of a province, in a utility room for three days and suffered from the cold?
not at all.
On New Year's Eve, Sun Yuanhua received a handwritten letter from his teacher Xu Guangqi, in which Xu Guangqi advised Sun Yuanhua to put aside his past grudges and put the overall situation first.
Seeing this, Sun Yuanhua also wanted to cry.
He has given up his thoughts of revenge against Cheng Shijie. He can't stop. When Cheng Shijie was guarding Ning Haijun, his generals raided more than 200 miles away and rushed into Dengzhou City to capture him. Now Cheng Shijie is stronger than before. Almost ten times more, especially Dongjiang Army Huanglong, who has no backbone at all.
Cheng Shijie used this amount of money to bribe Huanglong. More than half of the elite troops of the Dongjiang Army are now being trained by Cheng Shijie. This is to give the soldiers to Cheng Shijie for reorganization.
Sun Yuanhua now has two or three kittens in his hands. What can he do to retaliate against Cheng Shijie?
Thousands of Jiannu were beaten by Cheng Shijie and fled in panic. Jiannu, who had suffered a huge loss, did not dare to retaliate against Cheng Shijie. This shows that Jiannu was also cowardly...
What should Sun Yuanhua do?
He wanted to put aside his past grudges. The problem was that the key was not him, but whether Cheng Shijie agreed or not.
The biggest headache for Sun Yuanhua was his teacher Xu Guangqi. Xu Guangqi was too impatient. He had already written to another student under his command, Chen Zilong, asking him to bring the prepared manuscript of "The Complete Book of Agricultural Affairs" and a hundred of the books that Xu Guangqi taught in Shanghai. More than one student went to Liaonan to take charge of agricultural experiments in Liaonan.
Xu Guangqi taught Sun Yuanhua and Chen Zilong all his knowledge respectively. Sun Yuanhua learned about industrial technology and military technology, while Chen Zilong learned about agricultural technology and the breeding technology of new crops.
Letting Chen Zilong go to Liaonan, wouldn't it be like sending a sheep to the entrance?
Secondly, Xu Guangqi is also very concerned about Cheng Shijie's single issue. This is actually Emperor Chongzhen's own imagination. Now Cheng Shijie is thirty-five years old and will be thirty-six after the New Year. He is still single.
This is like Hou Huo Qubing, the champion of the Han Dynasty, who made a great wish: "The Xiongnu are not destroyed, why should we take care of our family!"
In the eyes of Emperor Chongzhen, Cheng Shijie was attacked by slaves at the Fenghuang Mountain Guarding Thousand Households, his family died for the country, and he fled alone. With Cheng Shijie's ability and appearance, even if he was a pauper, many people were willing to marry their daughters to him.
Emperor Chongzhen was not wrong about this. Cheng Shijie's height was his great advantage. Women like strong men because strong men will give them a sense of security.
Cheng Shijie has not remarried for more than ten years, which shows that he is unwilling.
By chance, Emperor Chongzhen talked to Queen Zhou about Cheng Shijie's marriage, and asked Queen Zhou to find a wife for Cheng Shijie in the clan.
There are no secrets in the palace. Even the whispers between Emperor Chongzhen and Queen Zhou and his wife soon spread to the outer court. Xu Guangqi, as the second minister of the cabinet, quickly received the news.
Xu Guangqi, just like Sun Yuanhua, suggested that it would be best for him and Cheng Shijie to get ahead of Queen Zhou and marry Cheng Shijie.
Sun Yuanhua knew Xu Guangqi very well. When Xu Guangqi was baptized, he only had one grandson named Xu Ji, and he was weak. Therefore, his relatives and friends had advised him to follow traditional customs and marry more side wives to have more children. This choice was very popular among the scholar-bureaucrats at that time. Very common among them.
Xu Guangqi once mentioned this matter to Father Luo Ruwang, who baptized him. Luo Ruwang replied: "It is God's order to have children but not have children. If there are children, it is unknown how prosperous they will be later."
Xu Guangqi thought for a long time and then stood up and said: "There is no need to have an heir, but God's commandments cannot be violated."
After hearing this, Luo Ruwang happily raised his hands and praised him: "Sir, if you can obey the Lord's command, God will definitely allow you, and you will see your descendants."
Later, Xu Guangqi's son Xu Ji became stronger and stronger. He gave birth to five sons, namely the eldest son Xu Erjue, the second son Xu Erjue, the third son Xu Erdou, the fourth son Xu Ermo, the fifth son Xu Erlu, and four daughters.
Sun Yuanhua and Xu Guangqi are not only teachers and students, but also related by marriage. Xu Guangqi's third grandson, Xu Erdou, and his wife Wang are Sun Yuanhua's adopted daughters. Although this adopted daughter is not Sun Yuanhua's biological child, she is his wife Wang's natal niece. . Sun Yuanhua's uncle Wang Ziquan died early, leaving behind a son and a daughter who were raised by Sun Yuanhua's wife Wang.
Xu Guangqi had no daughters, but he had granddaughters. Xu Ji’s fourth daughter (the real name was not found, her Christian name was Martina) was fifteen years old and had not yet been married.
Sun Yuanhua had an unusual headache. He looked at his close aides and said, "Dacheng, how did you go about the investigation you were asked to investigate?"
Feng Sanniang went to southern Liaoning as Cheng Shijie's wife and caused a sensation in southern Liaoning. This also let Sun Yuanhua get the news. However, when Sun Yuanhua, Cheng Shijie's boss, first came into contact with Cheng Shijie's resume, there was no wife at all.
As for the rumors about the discord between husband and wife, the Xiang family is a big family, etc., these words can be deceived by the common people. At Sun Yuanhua's level, they don't believe it at all. If the Xiang family is really from a rich family, Cheng Shijie is in trouble, and the Xiang family asks Xiang family to return to her natal family. Xiang will be drowned.
This is the power of ethics and ethics. Raising the Xiang family is also a social death, and it is more serious than that of later generations. If Xiang's children have official positions, they will all be dismissed. This is a public outrage.
Xu Dacheng pondered: "The students sent eleven people to Jiangxi, but there is no news yet."
Sun Yuanhua pondered: "If Ben Xian goes to Liaonan, will Cheng Shijie... be detrimental to Ben Xian?"
Xu Dacheng shook his head and said resolutely: "Probably not. Cheng Shijie is just a rootless duckweed now. He has no backstage in the court. He has learned from Mao Wenlong's mistakes. He will definitely not follow in Mao Wenlong's footsteps!"
Sun Yuanhua didn't have the confidence, but this time, he had to go.
If he chooses not to take the risk, then he will let his junior brother Chen Zilong take the risk. The key is that although the teacher did not say it clearly in the letter, his attitude is really ambiguous!
(End of chapter)
