Prince Yuancheng of Daming Prefecture in Hebei Province was the son of Prince Feng, the second son of Emperor Sejong. He was also one of the county kings granted by the old man after he gained power. However, within more than ten years, 70% of the land in Yuancheng County, where Fuzhi was located, became his name, not counting his land in other counties under Fuzhi's jurisdiction.
The land under his name actually reached more than 50,000 hectares. You know, Daming Mansion is on Hebei Road, which is not very wealthy in the north. The court mainly collects money and grain. Daming Mansion and Baoding Mansion to the north are collectively known as Baoda Second Mansion and are the richest places on the entire Hebei Road. He, a county prince, occupies such a land, and even if he does nothing every year, he only collects more than 200,000 to 300,000 yuan in land rent.
However, because most of the imperial land in Yifu is in the hands of other princes, the money and food collected every year in Daming Mansion does not reach this amount. The total amount of food and grain collected by the entire Daming Prefecture in a year is less than 200,000 yuan in agricultural taxes. This is the richest place in the entire Hebei Road, and the annual agricultural tax is less than one county king.
Huang Qiong was speechless for a long time when he looked at the evaluation in the file that this man, who was known as the largest landowner on Hebei Road, had a surplus of grain that could be used for thirty years, and that the wealth accumulated in the house could provide 50,000 horses and several years of salary. The emperor returned to him 5,000 acres of Yongye farmland. In just over ten years, he expanded it to more than 50,000 acres. This skill was extraordinary.
This county prince lived a life of intoxication relying on huge land rents. Although his county prince's palace did not dare to build it too big due to regulations, it was decorated extremely luxuriously by him. The dossier records that the main hall of his palace was almost entirely made of red sandalwood beams. All furniture is made of huanghuali wood.
The stones used to lay the floors in each house, although they dare not use gold bricks, are all piebald stones purchased from Yanshan Mansion. This alone cost more than ten thousand dollars. In the garden of his prince's palace, a rockery stone purchased from Suzhou cost 50,000 yuan.
This cousin of mine is even more unscrupulous in terms of beauty. Although it has not developed to the point of robbery, the taste is still quite strong. Whether it's a prostitute in a dirty alley, a widow whose husband has died, or even a wet nurse for her children. As long as it catches his eye, he will take it back to his home at a high price. There are more than a hundred dancers and singing girls raised in the family.
There are more than forty wives and concubines in his mansion who have just titles. This does not include the maids who serve in bed, unregistered concubines, and those who cannot be listed on the list and are bought from brothels. These women's annual makeup money and monthly salary can reach as high as one hundred thousand guan.
Moreover, this old man is not satisfied even though he has dozens of rooms with beautiful wives and concubines at home. My biggest hobby in life is visiting brothels. Whether it is a high-class book apartment or a low-class tile alley, this man is interested in everything. As long as he likes it, he will definitely spend a lot of money.
In the entire brothel of Daming Mansion, no matter how good or bad the taste is, as long as a newcomer comes, he will definitely go to support it. To groom a poor man's cage, he would even spend tens of thousands of dollars. If a new person comes to the brothel, if he is not allowed to groom the cage first, the brothel will not be able to open at all.
In order to maintain his body, which was drained by alcohol and sex, the prince ate deer fetus, ginseng, tiger penis and the like every day. There are more than a hundred kinds of medicines used at home to enhance pleasure. There is even a farm dedicated to raising sheep and radishes for him so that he can get sheep kidneys.
Recently, I didn’t know who came up with a prescription, saying that drinking human milk is very nourishing, and there are more than ten wet nurses at home who specialize in feeding him. It's just that my cousin is too greedy for beauty, and he is obviously trying to make up for his shortcomings. He could only take a few steps without gasping for air. Even in the mansion, he could only sit in a sedan chair. Even when having sex with a woman, a maid is needed to help behind the scenes.
This means that in this era there are no diseases prefixed with love, and there is no such disease prefixed with plum. Still a thousand years later, with this old man's unscrupulous taste, he would probably have sores on his body. Everyone said that King Yong was absurd, but King Yong's absurdity could be called a saint compared to this man.
A glimpse of one spot reveals the whole leopard. A prince can amass so much wealth in more than ten years. What about the other princes and princes? The foundation of the world in the words of these emperors is gradually hollowing out the foundation of this seemingly huge, but currently extremely weak court. Thinking of this, Huang Qiong could only smile bitterly.
Fifty thousand hectares of land, even if the current tax rate is one for ten, at least two hundred thousand guan will be taxed every year. But now, the money and food that should have gone to the court were all put into his personal pocket. The imperial court, which had to support a large number of officials and troops, was obviously increasingly unable to make ends meet, but these clans were still living in a dream by relying on the large amounts of wealth they had accumulated.
Putting down the file in his hand, Huang Qiong sighed slightly. Over there, Jia Quan, who was copying some key points in the dossier, also sighed: "Your Majesty, Quan has not finished reading the two dossiers, but it is quite eye-opening. If these ridiculous things about the clan of this dynasty were compiled into an unofficial history, If it is sold, it will probably become a pretty good romance novel, and it will probably be expensive to sell in Luoyang."
"Look at the prince of Yuzhang County in Zhongling County, Yuzhang Prefecture. Judging from what he has done, he can't be regarded as a rich man. The land in his family is more than 20,000 hectares, forcing the local people to Grow grain, convert 50% of the land into tea gardens, and sell tea in conjunction with the Guilin County Prince's Palace. This alone generates more than 200,000 yuan in revenue every year, which can be regarded as a bit of business acumen."
"According to the regulations of the imperial court, unless the land under the clan's name is used to grow grain, any other crops must be taxed. But this man has not paid a penny since the seventh year of Mingde. This year is the fifteenth year of Mingde, and this man My brother's tax debt has reached more than a hundred dollars. But Quan really doesn't know why the emperor just looks at it and doesn't deal with it."
"What's even more ridiculous is that regardless of whether the people in Zhongling County are marrying a wife or a daughter, the bride must be carried to their home for three days. If they don't send it off, the whole family will be imprisoned in the water prison of the palace. It's hard to survive. For seven days, relatives can spend money to redeem it. Life is not that hard, and there are not many families who died in the water prison with shackles."
"Those beautiful brides, he, the county prince, directly accepted them with a smile. Those with ordinary looks were assigned to his housekeepers and thugs, and they were allowed to be carried back by the original owner after three days. As for the ugly ones, they were given to his own family. Slave for three days. There are many women who have a strong sense of chastity and are forced to drown and hang themselves."
"This county prince is doing something to make people angry. A popular practice in the area is to throw the first child. The first child of a newlywed couple is thrown to death or put in the toilet and drowned. Some kind-hearted people will Give it directly to someone or send it to a temple. People are already very poor, so who is willing to support a child for others?"
"In the thirteenth year of Mingde, that is, the year before last, the prince of Yuzhang County was really angry and resentful. Originally, according to the emperor's intention, he wanted to seize the title, confiscate the family, and imprison the prince, but the prince of Yuzhang County did not know how to deal with it. . In the end, due to the prince’s insistence, he was only fined 200,000 guan. After paying 200,000 guan, the matter was finally settled.”
"Looking at what these clans said, Quan finally understood why when the Huaiyang County Prince was massacring the clan, some people in the world applauded, clapped, and wrote praises, but there was no one who cried out for the clan. . The behavior of this Prince of Yuzhang is almost the same as that of Prince Yu who was killed by the Prince of Huaiyang, and is even worse than a bastard."
After listening to Jia Quan's statement to Prince Yuzhang, who was even more bastard than Prince Yuancheng, Huang Qiong couldn't help but shook his head and said angrily: "Absurd, extremely absurd." But he didn't know what he meant by these extremely absurd words. The prince who handled this matter was ridiculous, or the bastard Prince Yuzhang was ridiculous, or the emperor who handled the matter this way was ridiculous.
Looking at Huang Qiong, whose face was slightly red, Jia Quan could only say with the same helpless smile: "Your Majesty, it seems that this matter is getting more and more complicated now. Judging from these files, they have been collected by the North and South Town Fusi over the years. Yes, it means that the emperor is aware of what these people have done."
"Look at this file about the Yuzhang County Prince. There are also comments from the emperor and the prince. In this file, the emperor only severely rebuked the Yuzhang magistrate for failing to play a supervisory role and removed himself from the clan affairs. The magistrate and magistrate of Yuzhang Prefecture, as well as the magistrate of Zhongling County, yet they acquiesced in the treatment of the prince of Yuzhang County."
"The emperor has not dealt with it until now. There are some reasons why it is worth pondering, but it is not just about seeking stability as you said before. This is no longer just about seeking stability, it can even be said to be condoning. It's just that the emperor is here Quan can't guess what the reason behind this is. Is it because of the prince?"
Huang Qiong also shook his head helplessly at Jia Quan's question: "Sir, I can only answer you with two words. For the rest, I can't guess at the moment. The power of God is unpredictable. Now we can It’s better to do the things at hand. As for the emperor, I will find a way to persuade you."
"At least compared with the Yuancheng County Prince, this Yuzhang County Prince can no longer indulge. If he continues to indulge, I am afraid that Jiangnan West Road will have to change the people. As for Jiangnan West Road and Jiangnan North Road around Jiangnan West Road, the two The east and west roads of Zhejiang Province are the capital of the imperial court. If there is chaos in the south of the Yangtze River, the imperial court's annual income may not be able to support it."
Having said this, Huang Qiong walked to the desk, sat down and thought for a while, but the brush in his hand never fell down. After thinking for a while, he put the pen on the inkstone again and said: "This memorial is easy to write, but it cannot avoid one person. Once this memorial is published, I am afraid it will represent the semi-public relationship between this king and that person. I’m so torn apart.”
"My husband is right. This job is really a job to test one's skills. Seeing what these cousins of the king are doing is really unbearable. But right now, what does the emperor think of these clans?" I am not sure what kind of attitude I will have. Now I feel that this job is to put me on the fire."
"It's not a good thing if it's baked or broken. What's more, there's one, or even more than one, lively camel messing around in it. Especially when it comes to that person, it's even more difficult to determine the scale. Treat this The crime of Prince Yuzhang is not difficult, but the problem is how to punish him. Where was that person punished three years ago?"
"The emperor definitely doesn't want to see a memorial involving that person at this time. Even if he goes up to the court, it is probably the best result to be in vain. If someone with a heart knows about it, and there is an instigation, The dispute between this king and that person will be made public."
