With the conclusion of the Wen Hua Palace memorial, the various vassal princes have managed to establish a friendship to fight side by side, greatly narrowing the distance between them that were originally relatively unfamiliar.
The kings came to Beijing this time to seek an explanation for the rectification of the military garrison. Now that the matter has been settled, they are naturally free.
However, after they were free, they realized that they really had nothing to do.
There was a scene in the palace last time. Although it was said that Yu Qian was targeted, the emperor would not be happy either. It was obvious that he was uncomfortable entering the palace now.
However, if they don't enter the palace, they have nowhere to go. This is the capital, at the feet of the emperor. Although it is prosperous, it is not interesting to visit for a few days.
The ministers in the court have never dared to make friends with the vassal prince, so most of the time, they just handed over greeting cards as a courtesy. The people they knew well and the pastime were not around. It was really boring.
Among these vassal kings, King Yin and King Xiang still have some things to do in coordinating religious studies. King Zhou and King Lu are old and senior, and they are not comfortable staying in front of them. Therefore, King Qin, King Zheng, King Ning, etc. Wang and other vassal kings who are similar in age usually get together to have banquets, chat and pass the time when they have nothing to do.
In the palace of the Ten Princes, there was the sound of silk and bamboo, and the women below were dancing gracefully, with graceful figures, like butterflies flying.
Seeing the focused looks of King Qin and King Ning, King Zheng Zhu Zhanyu couldn't help but joked.
"You two, just take a look at this song and dance. The capital is no better than those in the fiefdom. These dancers are all from the Jiaofang Department. They are registered in the Ministry of Rites. If you want to redeem them, you have to ask for His Majesty's permission. .”
These words made the two people opposite burst into laughter. King Qin Zhu Zhi was the youngest among them. After hearing this, he really thought about it for a moment and said.
"That's a pity. The people in Jiaofangsi are indeed different from ordinary people. They are elegant and graceful. No wonder the Emperor likes them."
As he spoke, Zhu Zhi showed a mysterious smile and said.
"Speaking of which, I heard that when the Supreme Emperor returned to the dynasty, he assigned many women from the Jiaofang Division to serve. Now, several empresses in Nangong are from the Jiaofang Division. It can be seen that the women of the Jiaofang Division are not only good at singing and dancing. Outstanding..."
After saying that, he and Prince Ning looked at each other, with tacit smiles on their faces.
On the other hand, Prince Zheng Zhu Zhanqi's face darkened and he said.
"What kind of empress? She is just a maid who is attracted by sex. She pesters the Supreme Emperor all day long to have banquets and indulge in wine and sex. It is said that a few days ago, some of them even dared to contradict Empress Duanjing. There are no rules at all. .”
"That is to say, Queen Duanjing has an indifferent temperament and will not let them care about her. Otherwise, they should have been killed long ago."
This topic is somewhat sensitive. Zhu Zhanquan is an uncle of the emperor, so he has no scruples about talking about it. However, the other two do not want to get involved in this matter.
After looking at each other in tacit understanding, Prince Ning glanced at the dancers underground and said.
"So, I'm afraid there is something really special about these women. Why don't we just let a few of them stay and serve you today? Your Majesty, just go back and report back. It won't be a big deal."
As a rule, the Jiaofangsi are all pure shepherds, but in fact, except for a few women with extremely outstanding skills who are responsible for performing performances for the court, since everyone else has entered the Jiaofangsi, it is basically impossible to maintain their innocence. impossible.
Even ordinary officials would sometimes invite women from the Jiaofangsi to accompany them to banquets, not to mention their status as vassal kings.
Not to mention keeping some escorts, even if they took a few away without saying hello, the court would just give them a mild rebuke.
This kind of thing is a common trivial matter for the kings, and it is just used to change the subject. Zhu Zhanjun also knew that he had said the wrong thing, coughed twice, and stopped mentioning Nangong's matter. And Tao.
"Speaking of which, several days have passed. There has been a lot of discussion throughout the court, but why is there no movement from Yu Qian? Does he want to go back on his word?"
Ah this...
King Ning and King Qin looked at each other, and then King Ning frowned and said.
"It's impossible. His Majesty spoke so eloquently. Although he didn't issue an explicit edict, there are so many vassal kings and ministers here to listen. How dare Yu Qian disobey the holy order?"
Later, King Qin also answered.
"If that's the case, that's good. It just so happens that several Wangshu are still in the capital. Let's go back to the palace and help him resist the decree. This reason cannot be argued even if it goes to court!"
Among the people present, if there is anyone who wants to bring down Yu Qian the most, it should be King Qin.
For King Zheng, King Ning and others, although they had enmity with Yu Qian, everything was a foregone conclusion after all.
To put it bluntly, it is impossible for them to take back the land that the court has taken away. At most, it will give Yu Qian and others a warning this time, so that local officials will be frightened and dare not interfere in the vassal affairs. Then they can Continue the merger again.
But even so, one cannot go too far, otherwise it will be troublesome once the court intervenes again. Therefore, it will still take a long time to restore the amount of land currently occupied by the palace.
From this point of view, of course they hate Yu Qian, the man who snatched the land from them, but they just need to vent their anger. Should Yu Qian lose his official position and resign, or should he come to apologize and be embarrassed? For them, It is said that there is not much difference. Anyway, it is just to scare the local officials and vent their anger.
However, the King of Qin is different. Now the reorganization of the army has basically ended. The so-called basic means that there are still some places that have not yet been completed.
Specifically, it is actually the Jin Fan, Qin Fan, Shen Fan, Su Fan in Shaanxi and Shanxi, as well as Zhou Fan and Lu Fan who were recalled to Beijing before Yu Qian had time to go.
In fact, this is also the reason why King Zhou and King Lu worked so hard on this matter. The other vassal kings were doing it to vent their anger, and they were doing it to protect their own interests.
Once Yu Qian fell, naturally there would be no ministers with enough weight to continue to carry out this great policy.
Everyone knew the reason for this, so seeing King Qin's expression of indignation, King Zheng couldn't help but smile.
"It seems that Governor Du has put a lot of pressure on you?"
"Well, let's not talk about King Dai. King Shen's side should have been sorted out, and I also heard that King Su's side has almost relented?"
In Shanxi and Shaanxi, there were five vassal kings, King Qin, King Jin, King Shen, King Su, and King Dai.
The King of Dai had already taken the initiative to compromise with the court. Needless to say, the emperor sent his trusted aide Daxun Chengjing to go personally to the remaining Jin and Shen vassals.
This Eunuch Cheng was implicated in the rebellion of the King of Jin in his early years and was sentenced to palace punishment. Now he has become the emperor's most trusted eunuch. When he comes to Shanxi again, old and new hatreds come together, and his methods are naturally ruthless.
Moreover, he is a eunuch, so compared to ministers, he has a lot less scruples in doing things. During this period, the life of the Jin vassal was very sad. What's more terrible is that since they went to Chengjing, it means that they have arrived. If the capital comes to make trouble with the emperor, it may not be of much use.
Coincidentally, life was not easy for Qin Fan and Su Fan. Du Ning, the minister of Dali Temple, was transferred to the governor of Shaanxi based on his merits. He did not have the same means as Cheng Jing, but he also had his own advantages, that is, he had a wide network of contacts.
Before anyone arrived in Shaanxi, a group of lobbyists had already arrived. These vassal princes controlled the military villages. To put it bluntly, to a large extent, they relied on the local gentry. After all, the palace had limited manpower.
As for the local gentry, they were inextricably linked to the imperial court. Du Ning was a Qingliu scholar, and with the support of a teacher like Chen Xun, the whole Qingliu community basically had to give him face.
The gentry in these places, whether they are officials in the court or have already become officials, can always find connections that they cannot avoid.
In this way, it is like cutting flesh with a dull knife. Although it is not fast, it is safe and difficult to deal with.
When this matter was brought up, King Qin's face looked a little unhappy, and he sighed and said.
"Prince Su's palace is short-sighted. Du Ning just agreed and asked the court to increase his annual salary by two thousand dan, but he couldn't bear it anymore."
The words were full of resentment, as if two thousand stones was a small amount.
However, King Ning on the side couldn't help but complained.
"Prince Qin, you are speaking lightly. Your Prince of Qin's palace has an annual salary of ten thousand dan, and you have countless fertile lands under your name. Naturally, you don't care about the mere two thousand dan per year. But the annual salary of Prince Su's palace is only one thousand dan. If the imperial court is willing to add two thousand dan, Even if the salary of a thousand stones has tripled, how could Prince Su not be tempted?"
Several people present were all feudal lords, so they naturally knew a lot about each family's situation.
It is good that the Ming Dynasty treated the vassal kings favorably, but it was only those few families that could really be regarded as being favorably treated.
At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Taizu founded a country and divided the princes into feudal princes. The prince's annual salary reached a terrifying fifty thousand dan. However, soon, as the number of heirs increased and the number of vassal states increased, Emperor Taizu also realized that this could not continue, so in In the twenty-eighth year of Hongwu, the annual salary of the clan was re-determined, with the prince receiving 10,000 dan and the county prince receiving 2,000 dan.
However, these were only regulations on the surface. Soon, Emperor Taizu issued another decree and made additional additions in the specific process of disbursing salary according to the size of each feudal king's fiefdom and his conduct.
Among them, the five prefectures of Jin, Yan, Chu, Shu, and Hunan receive 10,000 shi according to the system, the Qin Prefecture receives 5,000 shi, and the remaining prefectures range from 1,000 to 5,000 shi respectively.
Among these vassal kings, the four prefectures of Dai, Su, Qing, and Liao were the worst. Because they were far away from the border, transportation was difficult, and the people were small and poorly endowed, so they were only given 500 shi per year.
Of course, the original idea for setting it up like this was to consider that the larger the fiefdom, the more important the general affairs that needed to be managed, so the salary would be greater. In addition, there was also Emperor Taizu's preference for some vassal princes, which eventually formed this situation.
Later, during the Yongle period, the specific annual salaries of each government were revised again, but they were mainly based on increases. After Renzong ascended the throne, in order to show his close friendship, there was a large-scale increase in the salary of each vassal king. Galu.
It was at this time that several vassal states, such as Qin Mansion, Ning Mansion, Shen Mansion, and Qing Mansion, restored the highest standard and drew 10,000 shi. However, other than these, the amounts added by other vassals were very limited. .
Especially for Prince Su's Mansion, Emperor Renzong generously issued an order to double his annual salary.
But the problem is that the original annual salary of Prince Su's Mansion is only five hundred dan, and doubling it is only one thousand dan, which is less than one-tenth of the Qin Mansion's 10,000 dan.
For this matter, successive kings of Su had come forward to ask for help, but they were all rejected by the court. It can be said that among so many vassal kings, only King Su had the most difficult life.
Your Prince Qin's Mansion is very wealthy, and you don't care about two or three thousand stones. But for Prince Su's Mansion, this is an incredible fortune.
Although it is said that a lot of money can be obtained by occupying military villages, it is risky. Besides, Su Fan itself has a small fiefdom and there is not much oil and water to squeeze out.
Now, if Du Ning can really get the court to agree to add Lu, it will be an upright, stable and long-term income for Su Fan.
In fact, there is no need to think about how to choose between the sneaky and invading military settlements and being scolded behind your back.
"this……"
After hearing this, King Qin couldn't help but feel guilty and said.
"Who said I don't care about two thousand shi anymore? Although my Qin Mansion and your Ning Mansion both support 10,000 shi, but it's not that you don't know that we both spend half of it with rice banknotes. Today's treasure banknotes can buy What I got, in fact, the annual salary of the Qin Mansion is only five thousand dan, how can it not be that much."
"On the other hand, Prince Zheng, although the reorganization of the army has suffered heavy losses this time, the annual salary of tens of thousands of stones is paid in real terms, which is really enviable..."
In addition to the different amounts of each vassal, the way of drawing out the salary of the vassal princes is also different. Similar to the Qin Mansion, Ning Mansion, and Dai Mansion, which later increased their salary, most of them were drawn in half and half rice notes. .
With the purchasing power of today's treasure banknotes, it is basically equivalent to none. Even better, it is part of the original color and part of the color.
The so-called true nature means to directly give food, and if it is to be discounted, it is to use some local specialties to pay at a discount. This approach is better than giving treasure money. At least you can get something, but the room for maneuver is very large.
Often in actual operations, the things the feudal king got were worthless junk, but the price was very high.
The most enviable thing is that people like King Zheng pay everything in real terms. No matter when the food is placed, it is still hard currency.
However, such vassal kings are very limited. To this day, in addition to the four prefectures of Jin, Chu, Shu, and Hunan that were explicitly ordered during the Taizu period, the only ones left are several vassal princes conferred by Emperor Renzong. Originally, there was also Taizong. The conferred kings of Han and Zhao, however, committed suicide. If the king of Han was removed from the title, the king of Zhao would end up with half the rice and half the money in the end.
So now among these people, the one with the highest annual salary is Zheng Wang Zhu Zhanqi.
"this……"
Seeing that the topic had somehow turned to him, Zhu Zhanqi smiled bitterly and said.
"Aren't we talking about Yu Qian? Why is it suddenly related to Sui Lu?"
I don’t know if he felt Prince Zheng’s embarrassment, but at this moment, a servant came to report.
"Your Majesty, Yu Shaobao is seeking an audience outside. He claims that he is following the Holy Order and has come to apologize to Your Majesty."
