Kaifeng City is known as "Eight Provinces Connected" and "Powerful as Two Capitals". It is extremely prosperous. Therefore, in the Ming Dynasty, Kaifeng City was full of royal palaces. It can be said that it is the city with the most kings in the Ming Dynasty.
Wang Jie, a native of the Ming Dynasty, once recorded in "Zhongzhou Zazu": "In the Ming Dynasty, the vassals in Henan were the most powerful, and there were 72 princes in Biancheng."
According to the regulations of the Ming Dynasty: the prince is granted the title of prince, his eldest son inherits the title, and the remaining heirs are demoted and granted the title of county prince. The eldest son of the county prince inherits the title, and the remaining heirs are demoted to the title of general of the country, and his grandson is the general of the auxiliary country. Later, he is demoted to the title of general of Fengguo, lieutenant of the country, etc.
It can be seen that later generations of the Manchu and Qing Dynasties criticized the Ming Dynasty for spending huge amounts of money and food to support the Ming Dynasty royal family, which was actually suspected of smearing. The only people who really spent a lot of money on the Ming royal family were the princes from various places, such as the King of Zhou in Kaifeng City. As for the rest of the royal heirs, the money and food they need to support them are gradually reduced, and in the end there is not much left.
Even by the end of the Ming Dynasty, in addition to princes from various places, the money and food provided by other royal heirs such as princes, generals, captains, etc. were often in arrears or even cut off directly.
Compared with the Manchus who spent money and food to distribute hard-core crops to the Manchus in later generations, the cost of supporting the royal family in the Ming Dynasty was actually lower.
At this time, Liu Yan, together with Henan Governor Gao Mingheng and deputy general Chen Yongfu, went to the Prince of Zhou's Mansion. Gao Mingheng kept chattering along the way, constantly introducing Liu Yan to the situation of the kings in Kaifeng City, especially the situation of King Zhou, for fear that Liu Yan and King Zhou would fall out. .
Originally Gao Mingheng and Chen Yongfu did not want to come, but as soon as Liu Yan entered the city, they made up their minds to "retreat to the second line". How could they be willing to get involved in such a thing that offended the feudal king.
But Liu Yan came to the door early in the morning, and after saying only one sentence, the two of them followed me obediently: "Our army will win this battle. If you don't want such credit, you don't have to go with me today." "
In the Henan battlefield, two governors, Lu Xiangsheng and Fu Zonglong, were killed in battle. The war situation was so ruined. With Emperor Chongzhen's style, Gao Mingheng and Chen Yongfu were probably dead after the war. Even if they defended Kaifeng Mansion, the best outcome for them would be to lose their official positions. If you go to jail, you will have to shed your skin even if you don't die.
Therefore, following Liu Yan and defeating Li Zicheng's army was their life-saving straw.
So after Liu Yan finished speaking, he turned around and left. Gao Mingheng and Chen Yongfu hurriedly ordered people to prepare horses and followed them.
"Now in Kaifeng City, there are King Runan, King Shunyang, King Xin'an, King Yongning, King Ruyang, King Zhenping, King Fengqiu, etc. In fact, many of these vassal kings' fiefdoms are not in Kaifeng City, but are all over Henan. In various places, just because the city of Kaifeng was prosperous and everyone was a clan member of the Zhou kings, all the Zhou kings in the past dynasties had submitted petitions to the court for favors. After receiving permission, these Zhou kings' clan members built mansions in Kaifeng one after another and moved into the city."
"According to the "General Chronicles of Henan" written during the Chenghua period, there were 19 county princes, 177 generals and lieutenants, 22 county lords, and 78 county lords in the Zhou dynasty. Bit……"
"And now, there are forty-five Zhou vassal palaces in Kaifeng City, among which the King of Zhou is the prince, and the palace is the largest. There are also forty princes' palaces, and four Yibin palaces."
"In addition to these royal palaces, the palaces of generals, lieutenants, and Yibins are scattered throughout the city, with a maximum of more than four thousand. However, most of these clansmen no longer have much to support, and they are no different from wealthy people. .”
Liu Yan listened quietly to Gao Mingheng's introduction and thought to himself: "I didn't expect that the clans of the Ming Dynasty would have such a large population after they multiplied to this point. It's no wonder that after the Manchus entered the customs, they massacred the clans of the Ming Dynasty and almost destroyed the entire China. Once again, there are still a large number of Ming Dynasty clans surviving, after all, the base is too large."
Then Gao Mingheng pointed to a tall and gorgeous archway in front and said: "General Liu, please look at it. That is the archway of Prince Zhou's Mansion. Although there are many private houses and shops in front of it, in fact, as long as you pass that archway, all the houses will be visible." The houses and shops are all properties of the Zhou Palace, and the common people and merchants are just tenants of the Zhou Palace."
Liu Yan's eyes twitched. Behind the archway was almost a whole street, which was almost the most prosperous area in Kaifeng City. It showed how wealthy King Zhou was.
"If princes from all over the world were like this, it would be a huge gift package!"
Liu Yan suppressed the urge to "beat the local tyrants" in his heart, then pointed to a building in front and asked: "What is it doing here? Isn't it a private house or a shop?"
Gao Mingheng said: "General Liu, look at the plaque there. On this street, any place that says: King Zhou supports him is a place that serves the palace of King Zhou. The place that General Liu mentioned should be In addition to the Medical Official Society, there are ice cellars, charcoal factories, official factories, Bishui Towers, Shizi Mansion, Shisun Mansion, Zong Academy, Incense Academy, etc. on this street, all of which work for the King of Zhou."
Liu Yan frowned slightly. The vassal kings of the Ming Dynasty had money, food, and status, but they spent their resources on enjoyment. If such a huge amount of money and food is used for state affairs, then on the battlefield in Liaodong, even if it is smashed with money, the wild boar skin can be smashed into "killer vegetables"!
"General Liu, please take a look,"
Gao Mingheng interrupted Liu Yan's thoughts, pointed to a gorgeous palace in front, and said, "That's Prince Zhou's Mansion."
According to Gao Mingheng's introduction, the Zhou Palace in Kaifeng City was built on the site of the Song Dynasty palace. It consists of two inner and outer city walls. The outer wall is also called Xiao Wall, which is about two feet high. It is suppressed by centipede wood and covered with glazed tiles. It is nine miles and thirty meters around. To the south is the Meridian Gate, to the east is the Donghua Gate, to the west is the Xihua Gate, and to the north is the Houzai Gate. On the whole, it is the scope of the Song Dynasty palace.
The inner city wall of Prince Zhou's Mansion is five feet high, with crenels on it, trenches dug around it, and gates on all sides. Duanli Gate is to the south, Chengzhi Gate is to the north, Liren Gate is to the east, and Zunyi Gate is to the west. The inner city has a circumference of about five miles. It is the largest and most well-defended palace among the princes' palaces at this time.
The three of them came to the south gate of the outer city of Prince Zhou's Mansion and handed over their names. After the concierge informed them, it took a long time before the three of them were let in. However, they had to walk, and a man with a sword led the way.
Entering Prince Zhou's Mansion, Gao Mingheng was still introducing Liu Yan in a low voice. After all, Gao Mingheng had been to Prince Zhou's Mansion many times and was very familiar with the situation here.
There are seventy-two wells in the Zhou Palace alone, known as the seventy-two gods... On the palace gates and temples, the fighting tools are covered with copper wire nets, called windbreakers, and underneath there is a white stone, called the foot stone. It means having plenty of food and clothing.
In the Prince of Zhou's Mansion, the central axis is the main entrance, main hall, wings, dormitory gate, dormitory hall, and back building. The huge palace buildings are laid out along this central axis, symmetrical and magnificent.
Liu Yan and the other three walked for a full moment, winding along the corridor in the palace before arriving at the main hall. This shows the scale of Prince Zhou's palace.
After another announcement, Liu Yan, Gao Mingheng, and Chen Yongfu entered the hall. They saw Zhou Wang Zhu Gongzhuo wearing a python robe with a very conspicuous jade belt around his waist. He was sitting upright and reading a book.
"Haha, it's Gao Futai and Vice General Chen, oh? Who is this?"
Zhu Gongzhen greeted the three of them to sit down with a smile. He looked very kind, but Gao Mingheng and Chen Yongfu did not dare to go overboard. After bowing respectfully, Gao Mingheng introduced: "Your Highness, this is the commander-in-chief of Qinglai Town. Liu Yan, the official and Dinglupa, was ordered by the emperor to lead tens of thousands of new elite troops to reinforce Kaifeng. He just entered the city last night and will come to pay homage to His Highness today!"
Liu Yan also clasped his fists and saluted, but because he was wearing armor, he did not kowtow.
Zhu Gongzhen stood up in surprise when he heard this and said, "Could it be Liu Yan who severely wounded the slave thieves in the battle between Julu and Jinan?"
Liu Yan was amused. This Zhu Gongzhen must have watched too much Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and his words had a flavor of the Three Kingdoms.
"Your Highness, you are the last general!"
Chen Yongfu took the opportunity to say: "Your Highness does not know something. General Liu led his troops to withdraw from the front line of Jinzhou in Liaodong to reinforce Kaifeng. When General Liu was on the front line of Jinzhou, he made great achievements and beheaded more than 9,000 slave thieves. This Only then was he named Dinglupp by His Majesty!"
Zhu Gongzhen was even more shocked when he heard this. He quickly walked down the steps of the main hall in excitement, came to Liu Yan, looked Liu Yan up and down, and said: "The general is really a god! I am lucky to get to know the general today. The king is very fortunate. If you don’t give up in the future, I am willing to tide over the difficulties with the general and protect the city of Kaifeng together!"
Liu Yan felt a few black lines floating over his head at this time. The book that King Zhou had just read must be the Romance of the Three Kingdoms!
"Haha, Your Highness is well aware of the righteousness. In the end, he will definitely protect Kaifeng City and fight to the end with Li Chuang and the bandits!"
"good!"
Zhu Gongzhen laughed loudly and ordered his officials to prepare a banquet, and asked Liu Yan, Gao Mingheng and Chen Yongfu to stay at the mansion to eat.
At this time, Liu Yan said with a smile: "There is no rush for the banquet for the time being. Since His Highness has mentioned the matter of defending Kaifeng City, the general also happens to have important matters to discuss with His Highness."
"Haha, General Liu, Gao Futai, and Vice General Chen are all pillars of the imperial court. With these three here, Kaifeng City is impregnable. This king and the people in the city are truly lucky..."
When Liu Yan saw Zhu Gongzhen starting to do Tai Chi, he put away the smile on his face and said seriously: "Your Highness!"
This sound made Gao Mingheng and Chen Yongfu secretly scream, and they winked at Liu Yan desperately. Zhu Gongzhen, on the other hand, showed displeasure, sneered and returned to his throne, saying, "I didn't see it, but Mr. Liu has quite a bad temper."
Liu Yan clasped his fists and said, "Since I have been ordered to fight against the Li Chuang bandits, I must do my best. Your Highness, please understand."
Then Liu Yan explained the rationing system and other regulations he had formulated, hoping that Zhou Wang Zhu Gongzhen would abide by it and provide money and food to support the war. As long as Zhou Wang Zhu Gongzhen takes the lead, all the Zhou vassal clansmen in Kaifeng City will follow suit and contribute money and food, and the people in the city will have hope of survival.
"snort!"
Zhu Gongzhen said with a livid face: "General Liu, you can ask Gao Futai and Vice General Chen if I have already given out a large sum of money and food to reward the army. Even the young and strong men who defended the city have no money and food to recruit." It’s from me! The treasury of Prince Zhou’s Mansion is already empty, and General Liu is still trying to force me to do it. If this spreads to the capital, I’m afraid it will cause an uproar in the government and the public, and even His Majesty will turn his attention to it!”
After saying that, Zhu Gongzhen stood up and was about to leave, but at this moment, under the astonished eyes of Gao Mingheng and Chen Yongfu, Liu Yan strode forward, rushed to Zhu Gongzhen in two or three steps, grabbed his left hand, and With a hard squeeze, Zhu Gongzhen suddenly started to feel pain.
"General Liu, please don't be rude!"
Gao Mingheng was so frightened that he almost sat on the ground. That was the current prince, how dare Liu Yan?
Chen Yongfu also said "Ouch" and hurriedly ran over to hold Liu Yan, but Liu Yan glared at him. At that time, he couldn't move forward, neither forward nor backward. It was extremely embarrassing.
Zhu Gongzhen was so painful that his forehead was sweating. He felt that his left hand was almost broken. He said loudly: "I am the current prince. How dare you, a mere military officer..."
"Why don't I dare!"
Liu Yan said sternly: "Now this town has been ordered by the emperor to rush to the aid of Henan. Now this town is the highest general in Henan. All wars in Henan are decided by this town! Now Henan is in a wartime state. The first priority is to defeat the rogue army. Any behavior that interferes with the war and disobeys orders will be regarded as collaboration with the enemy, and this town can impose military law on them, even if they are princes!"
"This town is informing you of today's matter, not requesting it. Please take care of yourself, Your Highness!"
Zhu Gongzhen was completely dumbfounded. He didn't expect that Liu Yan would dare to do this, so he turned against him directly: "You dare to touch me? You are not afraid of the emperor's punishment!"
Liu Yan said coldly: "This town is very sure that we can defeat Li Zicheng and regain the lost territory in Henan. When the army returns home in triumph, I, Liu Yan, have made outstanding achievements and my troops are invincible in the world. Do you think the emperor believes in me or you?" "
Some people died, but not completely...
