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During the Jiaqing period, the Ming Dynasty's Gonggun princes finally gradually realized a serious reality, that is - the court's expenditure on supporting the vassal king was too huge, and the national treasury was already overburdened - so they issued the famous "Zongfan Regulations" 》.
There are a total of sixty-seven articles in the "Regulations of the Domain", with three core contents. The first is to strictly control the number of wives and concubines of the feudal princes; the second is to improve the standards for conferring titles to the princes and younger brothers of the feudal lord; the third is to regulate the feudal princes' concubines Conduct financial accounting of the king's expenses, cut large amounts of useless expenses, and reduce the original salary amount.
Since then, the vassal kings have been strictly supervised from seizing titles, granting land, to daily expenses. This briefly suppressed the extravagance of the vassal clans, and also alleviated the court's need to support the vassal princes to a certain extent. burden, releasing a certain amount of people's power.
However, although the policy is there, implementation is another matter.
In fact, after Emperor Jiaqing promulgated the "Zong-Fan Rules", the effect only lasted for a short period of time. The succeeding Ming Dynasty emperors quickly put the "Zong-Fans Rules" behind them and regarded them as nothing. His children and grandchildren were still particularly generous when bestowing titles and lands, for fear that their fat-minded, ignorant and unskilled descendants would be wronged.
Take the fourth brother of Emperor Wanli Emperor Zhu Yiliu of Lu as an example. When he granted vassal status, he was rewarded with an area of land as high as Wanqing. Later, he expanded the land under his name to 40,000 by means of "complaining about the legacy of King Jing". The dumping was so huge that it almost occupied all the fertile farmland in Huguang;
When King Fu Zhu Changxun was granted the title of vassal, Emperor Wanli directly gave 40,000 yuan of fertile land with a stroke of his pen. In the end, King Fu himself was afraid of becoming the target of public criticism, so he took the initiative to ask for an order to reduce the amount by half.
During the Tianqi period, Emperor Tianqi granted Huiwang, Ruiwang, and Guiwang 30,000 hectares of land each in Huguang, Shaanxi and other places. However, the local officials could no longer carve out so much land, so Emperor Tianqi ordered it to be allocated to Sichuan. , Shanxi, Henan and other places.
In addition, the annual salary and salary of the vassal kings are astronomical figures. Their land annexation, smuggling and tax evasion, etc. have greatly damaged the overall interests of the court. It can be seen that in order to support these moths, the court has already It's already overwhelming.
This phenomenon was not improved to a certain extent until Emperor Chongzhen of this world came to power. The financial pressure on the court and the severe burden on the people were slightly relieved.
After the current Emperor Deqing inherited the throne, he spent a lot of effort to reduce the support expenses of the vassals, which has been very effective over the years.
Secretly, the officials and nobles of the imperial court, including Zhao Junchen, resented Emperor Deqing's stinginess and selfishness, and were often disturbed by Emperor Deqing's meanness and unkindness.
But objectively speaking, in terms of governing the country, Emperor Deqing's stingy selfishness, meanness and unkindness certainly chilled the hearts of his loyal ministers, but overall the benefits outweighed the disadvantages.
For example, precisely because of Emperor Deqing's stinginess and ruthlessness, he never cared about the friendship of the clan bloodline. Whenever his brothers and nephews established vassals, Emperor Deqing always behaved extremely stingy. Not to mention that emperors such as Wanli and Tianqi frequently rewarded thousands of fertile fields. Even if they only rewarded two or three thousand hectares of fields, it would make him feel heartbroken. This undoubtedly slowed down the imperial court's support for the clan to a great extent. Pressure builds.
At the same time, it was precisely because of Emperor Deqing's meanness and unkindness that he often took action to defeat and weaken the power of vassals in various places. Since Emperor Deqing came to the throne, the number of clan children imprisoned in Fengyang, the central capital, has increased significantly. It has more than doubled. Almost every year, a member of the royal family is deposed and imprisoned for some seemingly trivial offenses, and all their property is confiscated. The number of clan children who are ennobled every year is reduced by more than 30%, and then a lot. To a great extent, the relevant burden on the court was reduced.
Emperor Deqing not only treated the clan and vassal kings in this way, but also used even tougher methods when dealing with corrupt officials in the temple, such as Wen Guanliang, Huang Yourong, Shen Changmao, etc., all of whom were once prominent. Powerful ministers, but when they lost power and fell, they all shed several layers of skin and dedicated most of their wealth to Emperor Deqing before they could retire and return to their hometowns in peace.
Of course, these actions of Emperor Deqing were not done out of public motives, but just to enrich the internal funds and make money for himself, but objectively they did play a positive role.
It can be said that although Emperor Deqing was eager for success, greedy and had various shortcomings, his ruthless treatment of the clan and powerful officials was enough to rank his achievements quite high among the emperors of the Ming Dynasty. .
From Zhao Junchen's point of view, Emperor Deqing's harshness, ungratefulness, and ruthlessness were certainly his hanging sword, but if he were to confront emperors like Wanli and Tianqi, even if Zhao Junchen had the means to reach heaven, he could only I am afraid that I will not be able to improve the government's finances, and my political achievements will not be as indispensable as they are today.
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Under such a background, it is no wonder that after Prince Zhu Heyu investigated the crimes of Prince Fu's Mansion, he immediately caused an uproar in the clan.
Prior to this, Emperor Deqing had always adopted the method of boiling frogs in warm water when dealing with vassals from various places. He always attacked the very few and preserved the majority. He first picked the soft persimmons and then gnawed the hard bones, using the sausage-slicing tactic bit by bit. The power and influence of the feudal kings and clans were weakened. The feudal kings and clans everywhere were panic-stricken, but there was nothing they could do.
But this time, the scope of the attack by Prince Zhu Heyu was too wide, and the targets he targeted were important vassal kings with weathervane properties such as King Fu and King Zheng. After the vassals from various places had been suppressed by Emperor Deqing for many years, they saw this In one scene, I just thought that Emperor Deqing wanted to kill them all, so naturally they tried their best to resist and jointly put pressure on Emperor Deqing.
Prince Fu's Mansion, which is at the cusp of the storm and at the center of the storm, has been even more panicked all day long. Since Prince Zhu Heyu forced the Luoyang government to block Prince Fu's Mansion, everyone in Prince Fu's Mansion has been under house arrest, regardless of the situation. Whether it was the current Fu Wang Zhu Citong or the ordinary domestic servants, everyone was terrified, fearing that the next moment the Jin Yiwei would rush in and arrest them all and imprison them in Fengyang, or be reduced to lowly status. membership.
At a time when everyone was in danger, a big event happened in Prince Fu's Mansion in the early morning of that day - Prince Fu's eldest son Zhu Hezeng was found tragically dead in his dormitory!
Zhu Hezeng probably died in his sleep. When he died, his expression was ferocious, his orifices were bleeding, and his skin was purple. He was most likely poisoned to death.
But who was the murderer who poisoned Zhu Hezeng? What was the reason for poisoning Zhu Hezeng? Nowadays, with the royal guards blocking the outside of Prince Fu's Mansion and the maidservants patrolling inside, what method did the murderer use to poison Zhu Hezeng?
It's all a mystery.
There is no doubt that compared to the pampered Prince Fu Zhu Citong, or the ignorant and ignorant eldest son Zhu Hejun, the shrewd and capable eldest son Zhu Hezeng has been the pillar and backbone of Prince Fu's mansion during this period.
The death of Zhu Hezeng undoubtedly further aroused the atmosphere of panic in Prince Fu's palace. Prince Fu Zhu Citong was completely at a loss. He panicked for a long time before he remembered to report to the official. Prince Fu's eldest son Zhu Hejun was completely frightened. , hiding in his room and not daring to come out. To drink water or eat, he had to send someone to test the poison first. Everyone was in a mess.
When the news that Zhu Hezeng was poisoned was reported to the Luoyang government, the chaos in Prince Fu's Palace quickly spread to the entire Luoyang city.
Now is the critical moment for the struggle between Crown Prince Zhu Heyu and the feudal forces represented by King Fu. Under such a sensitive situation, Zhu Hezeng, a key witness who holds a large amount of information, died mysteriously. This incident is bound to shock the government and the public. , all parties involved cannot escape responsibility.
Zheng Yicheng, the prefect of Luoyang, immediately announced the sealing of the city gates and sent government officials everywhere to search for any suspicious persons - regardless of whether this approach would be effective, Zheng Yicheng had to do something at this time to prove that he was not idle;
The factory guards immediately took control of all the personnel in Prince Fu's Mansion and interrogated them one by one. Because Prince Fu's Mansion was under their control when Zhu Hezeng was poisoned to death, and they might be blamed afterwards, so the Jinyi Guards were interrogating them. No matter how hard you hold back, you can hear the screams of being tortured and extorted confessions from time to time in Prince Fu's palace;
At the same time, all the important figures in Luoyang City, including Prince Zhu Heyu, Henan Governor Zhang Bozhen, and Luoyang Magistrate Zheng Yicheng, rushed to Prince Fu's Mansion to personally investigate the case.
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"Your Majesty, what is going on all this? How come the eldest son of Wang was poisoned and died? As far as the official knows, he has been staying in Prince Fu's Mansion during this time without going out. Who could have poisoned him? Do you have any idea in your heart? Any clues?"
Zhang Bozhen, the governor of Henan, was a disciple of Zhou Shangjing, the first assistant. Most of the people in the "Zhou Party" were from the Han Dynasty. They had a good image and good conversation. Zhang Bozhen was no exception. His gestures were full of the elegance of a scholar. He When he asked King Fu Zhu Citong, his attitude was still full of respect, and he did not add insult to injury at all because of the current precarious situation of King Fu's lineage.
But in fact, underneath Zhang Bozhen's seemingly calm appearance, his heart was full of annoyance and resentment.
After Prince Zhu Heyu arrived in Luoyang to investigate King Fu, Zhang Bo saw that a storm was about to break out, so he immediately found a reason to leave Luoyang City, saying that he was going to Nanyang to inspect the progress of the drought relief work half a year ago. This inspection was very satisfying. It lasted for more than a month; during this more than a month, Zhang Bozhen could be said to have brought his good character of loving the people like a son to the extreme. He repeatedly inspected every disaster-stricken village and stayed in Nanyang until the news came from the central court. After hearing the news that an imperial minister was to be replaced as Crown Prince Zhu Heyu, Zhang Bozhen reluctantly returned to Luoyang again to prepare for the reception.
Who would have thought that he had just returned to Luoyang the day before, and the poisoning and murder of Prince Fu's eldest son occurred the next day. He only felt that God was unfair and that he was very unlucky.
On the other side, after hearing Zhang Bozhen's inquiry, Prince Fu Zhu Citong glanced at Crown Prince Zhu Heyu expressionlessly, gritted his teeth and said: "After preliminary investigation, Jin Yiwei believes that the time of Zeng'er's poisoning should be around midnight last night. There was no one in Zeng'er's room at that time, and Jin Yiwei also found some bottles of crane-top red still remaining on Zeng'er's desk, so Zeng'er might have committed suicide by taking poison... He was forced to death! "
When it comes to the latter part, Zhu Citong is already gnashing his teeth. Coupled with Zhu Citong's wide and fat figure, he really has some sense of calmness at this time.
Obviously, these words of King Fu Zhu Citong were implying that Zhu Hezeng was forced to death by Prince Zhu Heyu!
After all, before Zhu Hezeng's death, he was frequently interrogated and interviewed by Crown Prince Zhu Heyu and met alone. It was obvious that Zhu Hezeng wanted to open up the situation and find evidence of crime from Zhu Hezeng's side. If Zhu Hezeng was overwhelmed under such circumstances, Suicide by taking poison is also possible.
But in fact, Zhu Citong knew very well that nine times out of ten, Zhu Hezeng did not commit suicide by taking poison. There was a high probability that he was poisoned to death, because Zhu Citong had an argument with Fu Wang Zhu Citong the day before his death. During the conversation, Zhu Hezeng swore to Zhu Citong that he would never betray Prince Fu's lineage, and no matter how hard Prince Zhu Heyu pressed him, he would never reveal the secrets of Prince Fu's palace. At that time, Zhu Hezeng's expression was full of determination and confidence, and there was no sign of committing suicide by taking poison.
However, now is a critical moment for Prince Zhu Heyu to compete with the vassal forces. It is also a critical moment for the survival of Prince Fu's family. Under such circumstances, the sudden death of Zhu Hezeng was used to gain sympathy from the government and the public, create public opinion, and take advantage of the situation. Defeating Prince Zhu and Yu Yiha, and allowing King Fu's family to survive this crisis, is the top priority in King Fu's eyes.
As for investigating the real murderer, capturing the murderer, and avenging his shrewd and capable eldest son, it is not that important. King Fu can completely be happy and confused.
Therefore, for King Fu, it was necessary to kill Zhu Hezeng's death by poisoning himself, and to connect Zhu Hezeng's suicide by poisoning with the prince Zhu Heyu.
As Zhu Citong finished speaking, Zhang Bozhen and Zheng Yicheng looked at each other secretly, and then both of them did not dare to answer. They just peeked at Zhu Heyu's reaction from the corner of their eyes.
Nowadays, the crimes of Prince Fu's lineage have not yet been concluded. If everyone in the world thinks that Prince Zhu Heyu forced Prince Fu's eldest son Zhu Hezeng to death, then Zhu Heyu's reputation will be ruined.
On the other side, Zhu Heyu had a serious expression and frowned in thought.
Zhu Heyu also knew in his heart that it was absolutely impossible for Zhu Hezeng to commit suicide, because Zhu Hezeng, who seemed to be loyal to Prince Fu Zhu Ci Tong, had actually secretly turned to Zhu Heyu and promised to stand up at the critical moment to kill his relatives and expose Prince Fu. Zhu Heyu had also promised Zhu Hezeng that he would ensure that he inherited the position of Prince Fu.
During this period of time, Zhu Heyu frequently met with Zhu Hezeng alone on the pretext of investigation and interrogation. It was never to force Zhu Hezeng to confess, but just to discuss future countermeasures with Zhu Hezeng.
How could Zhu Hezeng commit suicide under such circumstances?
After hearing the pointed accusation from King Fu Zhu Citong, Zhu Heyu stared at Zhu Citong with cold eyes, full of suspicion.
Yes, at this time, Zhu Heyu suspected that Zhu Hezeng's death was related to Fu Wang Zhu Citong.
If King Fu Zhu Citong received information from somewhere and learned that Zhu Hezeng had betrayed him, in this case there would naturally be a possibility of murder and silence! Then he determined that Zhu Hezeng's death was a suicide and was attributed to Zhu Heyu's persecution. This will undoubtedly help King Fu win this wrestling match with Zhu Heyu!
The most important thing is that Zhu Heyu impeached several vassal kings to the court this time because he had the key witness Zhu Hezeng. But now because of Zhu Hezeng's sudden death, Zhu Heyu is missing the most critical one. The witness immediately sat on the wax!
In this way, Zhu Heyu was already forced into a corner.
Therefore, he must fight back!
burn one's boats!
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