"Go back... This is His Majesty's decision, and it is not something I can change. It is His Majesty's magnanimity to just be demoted to the position of Commander of the Royal Guards without being completely exempted from the attack."
Faced with Anchang Bo Qian Weiyuan, who handed over a stack of land deeds with a flattering smile and various antiques and treasures beside him, Yan Yuanmo chose to refuse without hesitation.
"Do you know why Zhang Heling was imprisoned by His Majesty? Because he occupied land and committed evil crimes."
"As far as I know, your family has done this kind of thing since you were knighted, right?"
Yan Yuanmo didn't have the slightest bit of good looks towards these relatives who were lying on their bodies and eating nothing.
It's not necessary. An Changbo was granted the title because of the Qian family of Emperor Xiaozhuangrui of Yingzong. However, Queen Qian had already passed away in the Chenghua year. You must know that all the wealth of the relatives comes from their family members who are relatives of the emperor. .
Now that Queen Qian has passed away, no one recognizes him, and there is no need for Yan Yuanmo to care.
Qian Weiyuan looked sad. Seeing the solemn and indifferent expression of the young Duke, he knew that his title, which had been passed down since Chenghua year, was completely gone this time.
But in fact, compared to other relatives, they are already lucky.
Since An Changbo's lineage has declined, his evil deeds are much different from those of the Zhang brothers, so they will be spared.
Compared with other relatives, such as Uncle Chang Ning, who had a street fight with Zhang Heling, who was expelled and imprisoned and his home was confiscated, and Marquis Qingyun who embezzled a large amount of people's property and was also confiscated and imprisoned. They are much better off, at least the commander of the Jinyiwei passed down from their ancestors. Still there.
But Zhu Houcong was filled with anger as he looked at the reports in his hands.
Those who were being bullied were all his people, and those who were being invaded were all his Zhu Houcong’s land! Those lands were originally subject to taxes! No wonder Ming's land tax has become less and less in recent years. He still wonders what's going on. The roots are here.
It turns out that so much has been embezzled by these nobles!
So he came to the conclusion logically:
The nobles who came to the throne from their maternal relatives were all useless, which was harmful rather than beneficial to the Ming Dynasty.
He immediately issued an order:
Since the Jiajing period, relatives cannot be ennobled, nor can they beg for land. Those who have been ennobled before will be handed over to the department for appraisal, and those who violate the law will be expelled!
The reason why it needs to be determined again is because there are still a small number of relatives who have meritorious service, but they are not enough to be knighted. Later, they were knighted because their daughter/sister entered the palace. For example, the family of Empress Renzong Zhang had more or less titles. In terms of ability, Emperor Jiajing was also open to this kind of people.
But these are a minority after all, and most of them are people who are good for nothing except collecting wealth. Excluding them will be of great benefit to Ming Dynasty without any harm.
As the civil and military investigations unfolded, more than a hundred ministers were arrested, and many relatives were expelled and imprisoned. The court hall was instantly transformed, and the Qingming Dynasty seemed to have returned to the Ming Dynasty.
The cleared land was given to the refugees, which alleviated part of the land annexation. As for the money, it was naturally paid for by Emperor Jiajing's internal funds. On this point, he also had his own selfish motives.
For Jiajing, renovating the court was only the first step in his new policy.
After that, he did many things.
However, these are very similar to previous emperors, such as reducing taxes, reorganizing the army, encouraging farming, etc. The governance of the world is the same.
But simple actions had miraculous effects. Under his actions, the Ming Dynasty regained its vitality. The government, which had been somewhat corrupted by constant struggles, and the people who suffered from natural and man-made disasters finally had a chance to survive. The opportunity, I can’t say rich, at least I have a bite to eat.
This is actually enough.
There are already rumors among the government and the public that this is the "Jiajing ZTE", which is of course an affirmation of Emperor Jiajing's efforts.
But Zhu Houcong felt it was not enough.
To create a prosperous era worthy of being praised by future generations, we also need to make achievements in culture.
For example, the "Yongle Dadian" written by Zhu Dixiu laid the last cornerstone of the prosperous era.
He wants to create a prosperous cultural era!
To this end, Emperor Jiajing specially allocated funds to build schools and academies in various places, and also ordered the "Yongle Dadian" to be re-recorded.
He also attached great importance to literature and art. While strengthening education, he also ordered that all the books in the world be collected. He would select the best ones, polish them and publish them himself.
After hearing the news, families from all over the world were extremely excited. After all, they have always been a group of people who were not welcomed by orthodox literati. If they can be selected now, it will be the emperor's endorsement of them, which will greatly improve their status!
After all, the Ming Dynasty dominated the history of Chinese culture. There were actually many rumors circulating in the market at that time. Now that the emperor recruited them, they were immediately sent to the capital, hoping that their own would be recognized by the emperor.
But Jiajing is not easy to fool either.
Although he was not hypocritical to the civil servants in the court, it is undeniable that Emperor Jiajing grew up among literati after all, and he had high attainments in literature and art.
Many of them, he just glanced at them and threw them away.
"What the hell is this? What kind of ancient plot is this? The story of a talented man and a beautiful woman is so poorly written! And the logic is wrong. They just run away and run away all day long. The slanderous writers are just thinking wildly. Where did they put the words about parents' orders and matchmaking? .”
"This is not good, the writing is lacking..."
Emperor Jiajing frowned, flipping through one book after another, while constantly criticizing it.
However, he was not satisfied with most of the contents. After all, many of them were written by down-and-out civil servants, and they would certainly not be popular with people like Jiajing.
There were a few more books, which made Jiajing's face turn red and he cursed:
"It's unbecoming, it's unbecoming! How can you send these up?"
After scolding, I didn't forget to quietly stuff those books into my sleeves...
But it definitely cannot be used for printing and distribution.
There was a copy of "Water Margin of Loyalty and Righteousness", which made him nod secretly.
Especially the story of the heroes surrendering to the imperial court later made him heart-broken. At this time, there were still some bandits entrenched in the mountains and forests of the Ming Dynasty. How similar was this situation?
Especially now that listening to storytelling has become a form of entertainment for all people in the Ming Dynasty, bandits are also not exempt from the custom. Many bandits will secretly go down the mountain to listen. Some people tie the storyteller up the mountain and ask him to tell a paragraph.
There was even an incident where someone, like Zhou Cang of the Three Kingdoms, wanted to serve a general who was passing by, but he didn't appreciate it and just chopped off his head to claim credit. These things were made a joke by the palace people. Emperor Jiajing I've heard about it too.
Zhu Houcong immediately thought keenly whether he could use "Water Margin of Loyalty and Righteousness" to recruit these bandits.
However, the ending of this book made the emperor frown.
Although it is said that he is anti-corrupt officials and not anti-emperor, but he can appoint so many corrupt officials, how can he be a good emperor? What's more, the purpose of this book is to convey information and shape thoughts. If you convey that the emperor is fatuous and surrendered and was killed, what does that count?
Change, change, change!
So Emperor Jiajing wrote the pen himself and drastically changed the second half. The final outcome became that Song Jiang and the loyal ministers in the court joined forces to fight against the traitorous ministers. The emperor also realized the evil deeds of Cai Jing and others and killed them. Song Jiang and others all A glorious life.
Perfect! Although it lacks literariness and readability, it can better play its political role.
After finishing writing, Zhu Houcong looked at the author's name with great interest. After all, there were not many such good writers.
Written by Shi Naian, Yongfu Xiaoxiaoshengxiu, and printed by Changle Bookstore.
Looking at the signature, Zhu Houcong couldn't help but raise his eyebrows.
I remember that Jin King Li Dingguo heard people talk about the Three Kingdoms, and then others praised him as Zhuge, but he didn't dare to take it seriously, so he targeted Jiang Wei and wanted to conquer the Central Plains and return to the old capital, so he fought for the Ming Dynasty until the last moment...
The most pitiable thing is that after the sunset and the road is exhausted, the only choice is to fight against King Li Jin!
(End of chapter)
