Inside the palace gate, a group of vassal kings walked out of the Wenhua Palace, but their expressions were a bit complicated.
As they walked, King Yin finally couldn't hold it back, stopped and asked.
"Everyone, do you feel that there is a hidden mystery in His Majesty's last words?"
The matter of Huangzhuang, whether it is done half-heartedly or done in accordance with the trend.
But in the end, with the statement of King Zhou, other vassal princes also followed suit. As long as the court can pass the court meeting and issue an order, and these vassal princes cooperate to take the lead, then the spread will spread everywhere. , it shouldn’t be too difficult.
In fact, if we put aside the possibility of causing the court to be wary, many feudal kings are still happy to see this happen.
Being able to get some money back is one reason, but more importantly, they don't want to spend all day eating, drinking and having fun in the house. Although, according to the final regulations, they can't get involved in the operation of Huangzhuang, but what can they do? Things are always good.
This is especially true for some relatively young vassal kings. After hearing King Yin's question, King Ning said.
"Uncle Yin Wang, are you too worried? There is no old tradition in the design of the Imperial Mansion. Everything needs to be explored. Your Majesty has always cared about all the people. We are about to leave the capital, so it is natural that we should give you some instructions."
Then, King Zheng also spoke.
"I think His Majesty is worried that we will profit from it too much and ignore the tenants' livelihood, so he warned us in advance. However, this is also the right thing to do."
"After all, the Imperial Store controls the mutual market, and there must be no shortage of money in the inner treasury. His Majesty established the Imperial Store to appease the refugees. As for the rest, it is just incidental."
"However, to be honest, His Majesty's worries are really unnecessary. If any of us don't have a few Zhuangzi at our disposal, we can't make the best use of it. How can we still not understand?"
After the words fell, King Qin also followed suit.
"It's true. If these tenants are forced to die, we can't just go to the fields and plow the fields ourselves. We are not a bunch of local officials who work in the local area for a few years, make a fortune and leave, and the land is sealed. It belongs to us, so we should take good care of it and not treat the people too harshly."
"Uncle Yin Wang, what do you think?"
These words were quite teasing, which made King Yin feel annoyed.
The implication of King Qin's words was that when the emperor said these words, it was King Yin who warned him, and everyone else just followed suit.
How can this make him not angry?
However, despite being annoyed, he really had nothing to say, because among these feudal kings, he was usually the most ridiculous.
In the past, he was the biggest in the fiefdom, and no one dared to discuss it in front of him, so that was that.
But when he arrived in the capital, he faced everyone with the same identity as the vassal kings, and he basically didn't have much scruples when speaking. He often felt that he had no face, but it was difficult to refute, which was really annoying!
King Yin had a dark face and did not answer, but the other vassal kings laughed. Seeing this situation, King Zhou coughed lightly and said.
"Although there were twists and turns in this matter, it was finally resolved satisfactorily. Since there is a matter about the imperial village, your majesty will not mention the reform of the vassal vassal again. Speaking of this matter, I would also like to thank King Yin. If he had not entered the palace today, Chen Qing, I think your Majesty may not be willing to give you this opportunity."
"We and the vassal kings are in the same spirit. Now that your majesty is willing to rely on us, we should work together to share the country's worries and do our jobs well. What your majesty just said cannot be taken lightly. You must remember it. Don't leave it to the end. Just because I made a joke out of petty profit, I will let those ministers in the DPRK look down on me again."
These words were a step down for King Yin. Although King Ning and others were a little skeptical about the idea that it was King Yin who came to the palace to make a request that led to the proposal of Huangzhuang, but after all, it seems that this is indeed the case.
Moreover, when King Zhou opened his mouth, these juniors naturally did not dare to neglect, and they all held their hands.
"It's natural."
So, someone quickly changed the topic. King Xiang on the side didn't know what he thought of. He looked back at the palace door and said.
"Of course we are doing our best for His Majesty. Uncle Wang, don't worry. However, His Majesty asked me to leave the palace, but left King Min and King Dai alone. I don't know what they were talking about?"
After hearing this, King Yin became interested and said.
"I heard that during this period, the king came to the capital on behalf of the king, and he always wanted to move to the mainland. Your Majesty has never let go of this matter. Now that he is left alone, is it probably because of this matter?"
"Moving the feudal vassal?"
All the vassal kings present blinked their eyes. They were a little surprised at first, but soon they felt that it was reasonable.
The new acting king Zhu Shiyi, who had only been in office for three or four years, had always disliked Datong City.
There are many reasons in between. On the one hand, because the old king Zhu Gui spoiled his concubines and killed his wives, he treated Zhu Shixi very harshly. When Zhu Gui was alive, Zhu Shixi, as the descendant of the vassal, had no servants to serve him, and even had to pay for food and clothing. He planned his own plans and worked in the fields. He was still illiterate at the age of fourteen and was bullied by people in the palace.
Therefore, Datong City is not a place with good memories for Zhu Shiyi.
On the other hand, the new acting prince has a cowardly character, and the other princes know more or less about the affairs of acting for the vassal. However, because Zhu Gui was still there, it was not easy for them to interfere.
Logically speaking, after Zhu Gui died, Zhu Shixi was the one who made the decision on behalf of the palace. He must have wanted to take revenge for all the bullying he had suffered before.
However, the fact is exactly the opposite. Zhu Shixi not only did not retaliate against Zhu Gui's concubine Xu, who had bullied and made things difficult for Zhu Shixi several times before relying on Zhu Gui's favor, and even almost killed him, Zhu Shixi not only did not seek revenge from the imperial court, but also asked the imperial court for the appointment of a concubine. .
In addition, Zhu Shixi was very polite to the civil servants and generals in Datong City, as if he was not a vassal king but an ordinary clan member.
This kind of temperament made other lords criticize him all the time, feeling that he had lost the lord's face.
But, again, the vassals were not allowed to make personal friendships with each other, let alone interfere in the affairs of other vassals. Therefore, they just looked down on the king and could not take any other action.
It was no secret that Zhu Shixi always wanted to move to the mainland because of his miserable childhood and the fact that Datong City was close to the border and often fought wars.
But the problem is that this time, Qing Fan has already taken the lead in ordering military settlements, and the emperor has given permission to move inland, so it will be much more difficult for Dai Fan to move inland.
According to the rules of the court, in addition to the throne, the hereditary vassal king also has the fief, so the fief cannot be changed easily.
The Qing vassal was in a special situation. Both generations of Qing kings disliked the fiefdom extremely. It was no longer a matter of one or two years to move the vassal. This time, the timing was right, and the emperor was able to do it.
Moreover, King Qing had always been unwilling to accept the vassal status. He did not even want to build the palace of Qingyang City in his vassal territory. He stayed in the palace of Weizhou all day long. Therefore, although the imperial fiefdom had not been changed, in fact, , the foundation of Qingfan is no longer in Qingyang.
Therefore, the approval this time is just a matter of going through the process, nothing serious.
But Dai Fan is different. You must know that Dai Fan originally existed as the King of Sai. In addition to the responsibilities of the vassal screen, it also had the responsibility of resisting foreign enemies.
Furthermore, Dai Fan has taken root in Datong City from the very beginning. Even if we don’t mention the management over the years, if we want to move the vassal, together with Zhu Gui’s sons, there are now seven or eight counties in Dai Fan. The king will also move to the vassal state.
None of this group of people is a good person. If they really make trouble, they will be no less than those of King Guangtong. Therefore, this is not a matter that Zhu Shixi can decide alone.
Of course, if the Dai Wang has the ability to make the emperor directly issue an order and force the Dai Fan to transfer the title, then no matter how powerful these princes are, they can only bow their heads obediently.
But the question is, does King Dai... have this ability?
"Won't we know in a few days if it can be done?"
King Xiang was interested in this matter, but several other vassal kings were not interested.
Whether the vassal can be transferred or not, it has nothing to do with them. Anyway, they will never touch their fiefdom.
On the contrary, if the fiefdom near you has a feudal lord like Dai Wang who is easy to bully, it would be a good choice.
A few people chatted and laughed, then got on the carriage and headed towards the Tenth Prince's Mansion one after another.
However, only King Zhou and King Lu invariably slowed down their pace when they were about to leave the palace, and finally stopped in front of the palace gate.
After all the kings said their goodbyes and left, the two old princes turned around and looked in the direction of the palace, thoughtfully, paused for a moment, and said, Prince Lu.
"What did you see?"
King Zhou pondered, then nodded slightly and said.
"Wang Yin is right. His Majesty's last words are indeed a bit strange. I think Brother Lu also felt it, right?"
"Your Majesty is still young and a little impatient..."
King Lu sighed and lowered his voice.
"Originally, His Majesty's repeated advice made me put my guard down, but those last words reminded me of the problem at the beginning..."
After saying this, King Lu turned around and looked at King Zhou and said.
"What happened today originated from King Yin. Without this incident, the vassal reform would have probably been unstoppable. Therefore, the Huangzhuang system is thought to be used to replace the vassal reform."
"However, the vassal reform is to restrain the vassal king for the sake of restraint, but Huangzhuang..."
"Huangzhuang wants us to profit. There must be something in this that I didn't expect. Could it be that you have figured out what you just warned me about?"
After the words fell, King Zhou fell silent.
However, the silence at this time can actually explain the problem.
In the end, King Lu failed to get an answer. King Zhou looked up at King Lu and said.
"To be honest, Brother Wang, I do have some guesses, but they are not accurate. What's more, His Majesty's attitude is now clear. Whether you are willing or not, we all need to cooperate."
"If we can take advantage of the situation, it may be an opportunity to change the current situation of the feudal lord, but..."
"Just what?"
King Lu frowned and asked.
However, King Zhou did not continue speaking, he just said.
"Brother Wang will know about it in the future, but now, if I speak out and cause trouble, I will be punished by His Majesty, so I ask for your forgiveness, Brother Wang."
"However, if Brother Wang believes in me, he will try his best to cooperate with the court after returning. If possible, several nearby vassal kings will also write letters to persuade them. After all, Your Majesty is a relative of ours. What's more, the move of Huangzhuang, It is also a move that is beneficial to the country.”
"Your Majesty is right. The country and the country belong to the Zhu family. Naturally, we, the Zhu family, must protect them..."
This was said without any beginning or end, which made King Lu unhappy for a while.
But there was no other way. After King Zhou finished saying this, he bowed his hands, turned around, got on the carriage, and left, leaving King Lu alone at the gate of the palace. He didn't know what he was thinking...
At the same time, in the Qianqing Palace, Zhu Qiyu was changing his clothes while thinking about his temporary changes to the imperial palace.
King Yin's entry into the palace this time was indeed unexpected. If King Yin had not come here, he actually planned to ask Hu Hui to send these vassal kings away from the capital first, and then implement the vassal reform.
However, Zhu Yi did not persuade King Yin, so there were some minor mistakes in the original plan. In addition, Zhu Qiyu had a new understanding of the vassal king, so he changed his original idea.
Just as King Zhou Lu and others felt, the imperial village system seemed to be good for the vassal king, but there was actually a pit in it.
This pit is neither big nor small, you have to get through it before you can enjoy the benefits.
The Huangzhuang system, to put it bluntly, is actually to gather scattered farmland, and then provide the best cattle, grain, and farm tools, supplemented by annual reductions in land rent, so that tenants can work hard to increase production.
Under this mode of management, the court provides the land, the lord contributes money, and the tenants contribute their efforts. The three parties work together. After the harvest is harvested, the court collects taxes, the lord takes a cut of the money, and the tenants can also save part of the grain. Everyone is happy. ,mutual benefit.
However, this is only an ideal situation. In actual operation, problems will definitely occur.
Because of this, Zhu Qiyu put the eunuchs in charge of the imperial village, forming a system of checks and balances among vassals, eunuchs, and local officials to ensure that no one would engage in malpractice for personal gain.
However, one of the most critical issues was deliberately hidden by Zhu Qiyu, or in other words, the vassal kings were led astray by him.
That is, everything Zhu Qiyu said is based on a good harvest.
With the account books of Huangzhuang for the past two years, coupled with the concrete and feasible regulations and methods, it is easy for people to think that this premise is naturally established.
However, the problem is that whether the harvest is good or not depends not only on whether the tenants work well and whether they have all the grain, farm tools, and cattle they use, but the most important thing is whether God is willing to give him face.
The only disadvantage of Huangzhuang is that you need to invest a lot of money in the early stage to purchase cattle, farm tools, and grow grain, and then through land rent, you can slowly recover the capital, and then make money.
During this process, if a natural disaster causes a bad harvest, then at least the rent for that year will definitely not be collected.
Of course the court will suffer losses, but in the event of natural disasters, it is the right thing to exempt local taxes. The tenants don't care. They are just trying their best. If the harvest fails, it will be in vain at most. At least the court will provide disaster relief and have something to eat. What you eat and plow is official land, you can just continue to work next year.
The worst thing is that these vassal kings have invested so much money, but if the harvest fails, not only they will lose everything, but at least the recovery cycle will be delayed for several years.
Of course, natural disasters happen from time to time, and it is not a rare thing. Natural disasters every year or two will only result in less rent, which is not a big deal. Some people who originally had land will lose their land and become homeless. .
This is actually a good thing for Huangzhuang.
But the problem is that Zhu Qiyu knows very well that the upcoming natural disaster will not be a year or two, nor will it be one or two places, but various disasters lasting at least five years...
