In the first year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty, Yidu Road in the Yuan Dynasty was renamed Qingzhou Prefecture. Yidu (today's Yidu City, Yidu Town, Qingzhou City) initially governed three prefectures and sixteen counties. Later, two prefectures and three counties were transferred to build Laizhou Prefecture, which still controlled one prefecture. Thirteen counties are small but one of the three most powerful prefectures in Shandong.
The other two are Jinan Prefecture and Yanzhou Prefecture. Yes, these three prefectures are all fiefdoms of vassal kings, King De of Jinan, King Lu of Yanzhou and King Heng of Qingzhou.
King De of Jinan and King Lu of Yanzhou were both harmed by the Qing army. Only King Yu Heng was still in his boudoir, waiting for a destined match. However, at this time, King Heng of Qingzhou Prefecture did not know that he had been targeted, and not only that. People and horses all the way.
A storm is brewing in the land of Shandong, which is overrun with thieves, and the center of the storm is Qingzhou Prefecture.
There are many mountains in Shandong, and Mount Tai is the most famous. However, Mount Tai is not a peak but a large mountain range that spans several prefectures in central Shandong, and Qingzhou Prefecture is nestled in the northeastern corner of it.
There are rivers in Qingzhou Prefecture. The Mi River comes from the northeast and passes through the southeast of the city. The city is half surrounded by the Nanyang River to the north, and the Beiyang River to the north. It can be said that it is a treasure land with mountains and water. No wonder Xiaozong loves his younger brother. I chose Kuaihao to give him the fiefdom.
King Heng of Qingzhou has been passed down to the sixth generation and the seventh king at this time. King Heng at this time is also the last generation of King Heng Zhu Youji of the Ming Dynasty. He is in the prime of life but has no ambitions to enjoy all the glory and wealth in this corner.
In the early morning, the city gates of Qingzhou were opened and people were filing in and out. Some went into the city to sell goods, while others left the city to work in a hurry.
There were shouts and shouts on Beichengmen Street, and nearly a hundred riders were galloping forward. The people gave way and cursed in low voices. Who was so domineering? Anyone with a discerning eye could see that it was someone from Prince Heng's Palace. In the entire Qingzhou City, except for the people from Prince Heng's Palace, Who among the servant guards could be so arrogant?
"Ah, it's Prince Heng." Someone with sharp eyes pointed at a young man in the team and said. The young man had a fair face, a slightly fat face, a smile on his face, and a full-on dandy's virtues. Moreover, he was indeed the most famous dandy in Qingzhou Prefecture.
The prince was very fun-loving, and there was no place he wouldn't go to, including brothels, wine lanes, casinos and theaters. In addition, he was also good at martial arts. He often took a group of royal guards and servants to hunt and train outside the city, amusing himself and having a great time.
However, although he is domineering, he has no evil deeds. It has to be said that the lineage of King Heng is really one of the few vassal kings that has won the hearts of the people. His family tradition of being charitable and charitable has been continued since the first generation, and he has a good reputation in Qingzhou Prefecture, so Even if the second-generation dudes in the palace are domineering, the common people are not that disgusted.
"Hey, look, not only the crown prince is here, but also several princes and highnesses." A sharp-eyed person counted them one by one and found that there were actually five or six princes traveling together in the team. Come on, there is no peace in Xishan and Beihe again. These gangs Dandy will toss.
"Five or six princes! Does King Heng have so many sons?" A passerby asked curiously, and others looked at him like a fool: "Foreigners? Five or six are called many. King Heng has eight, and the youngest is just Full moon..."
This person is indeed rare and strange. In the Ming Dynasty, ten or eight children were really not too many. Those who had twenty or thirty children were too many.
Why are there so many babies? There are more women but less entertainment activities?
Maybe, but it's not the main reason.
The vassal kings of the Ming Dynasty worked hard to give birth to children, and even competed to have children. The main reason was to obtain state subsidies and make money!
You heard it right, the Ming Dynasty King made money by giving birth to children!
When Lao Zhu conquered the world, he was worried that his sons would form gangs and cause trouble in the capital, and even come to the Xuanwumen Incident and so on. So in order to once and for all, he enfeoffed his sons to various parts of the country to enjoy peace and happiness, but he also formulated strict regulations: Fan The king "lived on his salary from generation to generation, without conferring any duties, and had a deep friendship with relatives." He "distributed enfeoffments but did not touch the land, appointed nobles but did not come to the people, and lived on salary but did not manage affairs." This institutionally restricted the control of the vassal king. Real power, to put it simply, means that the country supports you and you don’t have to do anything, just sit back and wait for death.
By the time of the second generation of Emperor Zhu Di, the vassal king was seizing the throne. Since he was worried that others would follow suit, he became even more strict with the vassal king. He also had candies in one hand and an iron rod in the other. He always rewarded the kings with money and red envelopes. Hair is given during festivals, weddings, birthdays, and even when you are happy. Anyway, it is the right way to make hair. But if you make the slightest mistake, he will deal with you ruthlessly, ranging from lowering your salary to lowering your title.
Since Zhu Di, the vassal kings "have no farmers, no workers, no scholars, and no businessmen". They only enjoy certain economic and political treatment as members of the imperial clan. At this point, the vassal king was like a group of well-dressed and well-fed high-level prisoners, imprisoned in the invisible prison of the fiefdom.
But what should we do if we don’t farm, work, serve, or do business? The vassals and kings spend a lot of money on food and clothing and want to save money.
There are two channels for lords to make money.
Once the rent was collected, the feudal prince's fiefdom would often have thousands of hectares of fertile land, and the rent would be a huge sum.
Second, state subsidies, which are fixed wages and rewards.
The more children you have, the greater the state subsidies. In the Ming Dynasty, the vassal kings were "hereditary and irreplaceable." The emperor's sons, except the crown prince, are all crowned princes. The prince's heir apparent ascends to the title of nobility, and the other sons are all county princes. The eldest son of the county king will be granted the title of nobility, and the other sons will be granted the title of general of the town... and so on. Princes are entitled to "ten thousand stones per year", princes of counties, generals who govern the country, etc. all enjoy different amounts of annual salary. This is a fixed salary. During every new year, festival, wedding and funeral, the court had to give out various rewards. Sometimes, this reward is higher than a fixed salary.
Since fixed wages and rewards are determined based on population. Therefore, most feudal kings competed with each other to have sons. After all, the more sons you have, the higher the income of the palace will be; the higher the income, the easier life will be for everyone. Therefore, the vassal princes of the Ming Dynasty became the princes who were most proficient in giving birth to sons in all dynasties.
Therefore, the ten or eight princes of King Heng are really not that many. His eldest son is about twenty years old, and the remaining few are also four, five, six, seven or eight years old. They are the age of having fun, and sometimes they organize groups to go out to the city for hunting and entertainment. The people of Qingzhou Prefecture have already No wonder.
But it was said that a group of princes led more than a hundred guards out of the city from the north gate, and galloped for several miles to the Nanyang River. The Nanyang River surrounded Qingzhou City from west to east like a moat. The princes had been there since they were children. They had long lost interest in playing by the river, and they were going to Beiyang River to have fun.
"Brother Wang, it looks very hot today. We might as well go into the mountains to play." The second brother frowned and looked at the sky. Prince Bai disagreed: "Although it is cool in the mountains, there are many thorns and it is difficult to walk. It is not as happy as playing in the water."
After hearing what he said, the rest of the princes had nothing to say, so they beat up their horses and followed him towards the Beiyang River due north.
Beiyang River originates from Qingliang Mountain in the west of Qingzhou, and flows north to south more than ten miles away from Qingzhou. A group of princes beat their horses and ran wildly in the fields, howling for joy, causing the villagers to stop and watch, laughing and scolding these prodigal things from time to time.
After a while, the prince stopped in a small forest by the Beiyang River. The servants were busy digging a hole and lighting a fire in preparation for the picnic. Some of the princes led their servants to hunt with horses and bows, some were fishing by the river, and some went directly into the water. The frolics are in sharp contrast to the sweating people in the fields in the distance, facing the loess and back to the sky.
"Hey, look who's that person over there?" While the princes were having fun, a servant frowned and pointed due north, and saw more than ten people running towards the river on horseback, seemingly with weapons on them.
Horse thief! The servant shouted, and the guards immediately put down their work and got on their horses to surround the princes.
"Fuck them, fuck them." The prince's face turned red and his expression was extremely excited: "Fuck them with Populus euphratica!"
Hu Yang was the captain of the palace guard. Hearing this, he chuckled and said, "Your Highness, are your hands itchy?"
"No, I have been dreaming about killing thieves for many years." I have to say that every man has a hero's dream, a general's dream, leading thousands of troops and horses to conquer the world, especially the princes of these vassal families, but Most of them can only do it silently, and only a few dare to take any step, but the endings are all tragic!
Prince Heng, Prince Heng, had no worries about eating, drinking, and fighting since he was a child. He often took his servants out of the city to play marching and formation games to entertain himself. How could he not be excited now that he heard that the horse thief finally had actual combat experience.
He was not unfamiliar with the name of horse thieves. To the west of Qingzhou were the vast mountains, and there were horse thieves in the mountains. However, those horse thieves hid in the mountains and did evil, and rarely came to Qingzhou City. After all, there were officers and soldiers stationed in the state capital, and they did not dare to come, so that the prince could only I've never seen it before.
There are more than ten horse thieves, and he has more than a hundred servants, just in time to practice!
