Daming has nine borders, from east to west they are Liaodong Town, Jizhou Town, Xuanfu Town, Datong Town, Shanxi Town (Taiyuan Town), Yansui Town (Yulin Town), Ningxia Town, Guyuan Town (Shaanxi Town), Gansu Town.
In order to defend against the Mongols, millions of troops were deployed on all nine sides, spending millions of taels of military expenditures every year. And as the situation became increasingly deteriorating, military expenditures gradually increased.
In fact, in the 21st year of Jiajing, due to the increased defense pressure, Emperor Jiajing established many new towns outside Jiubian.
Looking further ahead, the earliest north had only four sides, not nine sides. The nine sides themselves came about due to increased defense pressure.
This is a cycle. Because the official administration and the garrison are corrupted, the combatable troops become weaker. The defense system envisaged in the early stage cannot be maintained, and more gaps are gradually exposed. Therefore, we can only send more troops and horses, build more border towns, and send more troops. Ma also put more pressure on the court, further weakening the national power. When the national power was weakened, the military affairs became even more unbearable. This cycle continued, so that in the early Ming Dynasty, military expenditures were basically not much, and in the middle and late periods of the Ming Dynasty, they accounted for half of the annual revenue.
It is absolutely impossible not to break this vicious cycle for him.
Now that the Tatars have entered a period of weakness, Zhu Houzhao vowed to take this opportunity to rectify the border towns and clean up the military settlements.
Ningxia Town is actually just the beginning.
But seriously speaking, it has indeed been many years. It has been many years since a feudal lord has rebelled.
When the news spread, the capital was in an uproar, ministers and workers were discussing it, and the number of memorials received by the cabinet and the emperor suddenly increased.
When it comes to the morning court, it is difficult for other issues to come to the forefront of counterinsurgency.
However, there is nothing debatable about this point. The current Zhu Houzhao is not the kind of weak emperor who can only order the Beijing camp. He must have issued an imperial edict to order Guyuan and Shuofang troops to put down the rebellion.
The key lies in what happens after the rebellion.
In Zhu Houzhao's view, there are two.
The first was to clean up the military settlements. This needed to be discussed in a small area, so he asked a few pavilion elders. Having too many people talking about it would not be conducive to the advancement of the matter.
The second is how to deal with Prince Anhua and Prince Qing.
This matter will be discussed at the court meeting. Because Zhu Houzhao was reasonable and it involved some morals, he couldn't do it secretly.
Anyway, it's a rebellion. This kind of thing is like father and son, and they will bleed each other.
No one above Fengtian Palace could change this.
Zhu Houzhao sat on the dragon chair and said with some dignity: "Raising troops and calling yourself "I" is a major crime of rebellion, which is not tolerated by heaven. The prince of Anhua County is the chief culprit, whether it is national law or family law, I They can only be punished with death, which is the result he seeks!"
So far, he has exercised restraint and has not killed Zhu Yuanzhang's descendants.
If I get an opportunity now, I will never let it go.
Below him, the civil servants were on the left and the military officers were on the right. No one could tell a different result.
"As for Prince Qing, how do you think we should deal with it?"
Zhang Mao, the censor of the left deputy capital, said: "Wei Chen believes that King Qing was coerced and had no choice but to do it. With this section, it is excusable. Although he is guilty, he will not die."
"It's true that he was coerced. But after all, he committed himself to the enemy. Let me put it this way," Zhu Houzhao's sword-shaped eyebrows matched the majesty of his long-standing high position, which gave people the impression of being quite imposing. "This time to suppress the rebellion, I am He has absolute confidence that he can win, but if the court loses, then will Prince Qing follow that An Ni?! By then, will he be as loyal as he said and will he remember me as the emperor?
The crime of rebellion is the most serious crime. Everyone in the world is fighting against it. How can we easily commit ourselves to the enemy? If the prince can survive like this, then can the ministers of the court and my generals use the excuse of being coerced? "
Zhu Houzhao was still unwilling to let go of this opportunity.
"Furthermore, I checked the past records and found that this Prince Qing was not a virtuous king, nor was he shown to be loyal to the emperor or to serve the people. I am afraid that he easily followed An Ni because of his evil intentions. Since he is willing to call An Ni the emperor , I will fulfill his wish and let him go with him."
There is a certain degree of quietness in Fengtian Temple.
There is actually a theory on whether Prince Qing should die or not.
If there is a debate, there will be some debate.
But the more important reason is that this little king of Ningxia actually has few resources in the court. The emperor's attitude has become clear. The next step is to get entangled with Emperor Zhengde for the sake of Prince Qing. Is it worth it?
It’s up to everyone to evaluate this themselves.
If some old masters were still in court, they might have to argue with Zhu Houzhao about blood relations, benevolence, righteousness and other things.
But times have changed.
It is difficult for such a person to gain a foothold in the court.
The only concession Zhu Houzhao could make was that he could give King Qing his whole body.
It is impossible for King Anhua to die. His car was broken and his skin was peeled off. He must have died miserably, and his head was missing in the end.
In this day and age, different ways of dying are different. It's just the same for Zhu Houzhao, he just wants to get rid of these wastes.
He won't give him any more titles. After what happened, the lineage of King Qing has formed a relationship with him, the lineage of King Yan. There is no chance that future generations will engage in a revenge drama, which is actually quite cliche and boring. of.
Let's end it here.
Since it was rebellion, there was a reason for Zhu Houzhao's harsh treatment.
Above the court, there were very few people who could speak for Prince Qing anymore.
But in fact, it was more than that. Zhu Houzhao continued: "This time An Ni rebelled, it is said that the palace had three thousand soldiers. All my dear friends know that after Taizong's dynasty, it was stipulated that the palace guards should not exceed three hundred, but An Ni was thinking It's unethical to support these people in the palace in the name of servants of the palace. I remember that the court has a fixed salary for the palace of the feudal prince, but I don't know how did An Ni get the money? He can support three thousand people!"
Everyone wondered what the emperor meant and what his purpose was.
"Your Majesty, I heard that the royal palace often occupies hundreds of thousands of acres of land. Over time, it can accumulate a huge amount of wealth."
The person who said this was not the elder or a minister, but Gu Renyi, the governor of Shuntian.
Zhu Houzhao frowned and said, "Oh? In this way, as the palace's wealth increases, its ambitions will expand. Although the court controls the number of guards, as long as restless people use money to benefit people's hearts, they can always recruit some desperadoes. I have known in the past that the land used by a vassal king often consumes the vassal land's money and food for a year. In addition, the court also pays an annual salary of 10,000 dan. It is nothing more than a waste of people's wealth, and in the end, it raises I feel sad every time I think about these unworthy descendants!"
Speaking of which, when it comes to this place, its true intention is already obvious.
Zhu Di's own rebellion was successful, and he immediately realized that he could not provide these vassal kings with a large number of escorts. Even if you give him 10,000 people on the surface, you can't guard him every day. If you don't pay attention, he will expand to 20,000 people.
Now, Zhu Di's policy of restricting the palace guards has also failed.
King Anhua rebelled.
Therefore, Zhu Houzhao wanted to increase his policy - he wanted to limit the wealth of the vassal king.
It's okay to be Prince Taiping, but Prince Taiping is too rich and has the financial resources to raise a rebel team, which is not okay. Rebellion does not involve willingness, only ability.
Whether I kill you or not does not depend on whether you will rebel, but on whether you can rebel.
Yes, it's also a sin.
The ministers are all smart people, and they all understood the emperor's thoughts as soon as they saw it... This must be a plan that has been considered for a long time.
The vassal king himself was a disadvantaged group in a certain sense in the Ming Dynasty. In addition, the political environment of the Ming Dynasty also had a certain degree of political correctness. The vassal king who occupied a large amount of wealth was actually not welcomed by the civil servants.
Some young people, such as Wang Hao, regarded it as an honor to fight against the prince when he was young.
And if any small official fights with the vassal king for the sake of the common people, then he must have a place in Qingliu.
So restricting the wealth of the vassal king seems... to have advantages rather than disadvantages?
