"Your Majesty, I am willing to remove the prince's title!"
A very sudden voice sounded in the main hall of the Ancestral Temple. King Qin endured the pain in his back and said: "Your Majesty, in the seventh year of the Apocalypse, there were major disasters in several counties in Shaanxi.
The Qin Prince's Mansion and the Qin Prince's family did not care about the drought. They also sold grain at high prices and colluded with the government to obtain official grain.
The clan even ignored the laws of the Ming Dynasty, etc. The inheritance of more than two hundred years was interrupted by the officials of the Prince of Qin's palace, saying that not being jealous was a crime of deceiving the emperor.
However, I came to Beijing all the way from Xi'an and stayed in the capital for a year and a half. It was the most relaxed and happy time since I conquered the King of Qin for more than 30 years in the 15th year of Wanli.
I saw the changes in Ming Dynasty in the capital and witnessed His Majesty's New Deal. Ming Dynasty is rejuvenating.
The first King of Qin, my ancestor, was the second son of Taizu. Wasn't it just for the long-term peace and stability of the Ming Dynasty that Taizu divided the kings?
But we vassal kings have forgotten the original intention of Taizu, went against the royal family, and relied on the ancestral precepts and the tolerance of previous emperors to do evil.
When I left Xi'an, I knew how many people applauded and applauded me for sending this great scourge away.
I sometimes wonder, how many more years would the Ming Dynasty have been able to survive without His Majesty?
The three hundred years of the dynasty and the symptoms of the last years of each dynasty are all reflected in the Ming Dynasty. When the dynasty fell, our clans were the first targets of the enemy.
Since Your Majesty is determined to revive the Ming Dynasty, I would like to request that the title of vassal king be eliminated, and the title of King of Qin will end with me.
I would like to ask your Majesty to grant me several acres of fertile land in Xi'an so that I can cultivate the land and also guard the tombs of the ancestors of the previous Qin kings.
Or I could be given a few shops, and I could become a businessman and experience the customs of the north and south of the Ming Dynasty. I would be lucky to spend my remaining years like this. "
After King Qin finished speaking, the old man burst into tears and fell to the ground, his shoulders surging and sobbing.
I don't know whether I was crying because of the termination of the title of King of Qin, or whether I was crying with joy at being reborn.
Not to mention the vassal kings, even Prince Fu who stayed with King Qin all day was confused by this move, let alone Chongzhen.
But just after a second thought, I understood King Qin's intention.
The Prince of Qin's Mansion and the Prince of Qin's clan have been thoroughly investigated because of the severe drought in Shaanxi, and 99% of them have been dealt with.
If it weren't for the concern about the vassal king and the ancestral training, it is estimated that the King of Qin and his direct line would have been killed to quell the public's anger.
Today's King of Qin really wants nothing but his title.
And with the emperor's current attitude, it is inevitable to cut down the vassals. If these vassal kings don't agree today, they will probably die in the Ancestral Temple.
In this case, it is better to hurry up, retreat in order to advance, surrender, and win the favor of the emperor. Maybe even if the vassal is cut off, the emperor will miss him.
I have to say that King Qin is still very courageous.
"Your Majesty, I am willing to follow the same example as the King of Qin and voluntarily remove the title of King Dai. The title of King Dai will be reserved for me. I am willing to stay in Fengyang for ten years to atone for my sins in the first half of my life!"
I don't know whether he made an appointment with King Qin or understood King Qin's intention. King Dai followed suit and voluntarily eliminated the title just like King Qin.
With the beginning of King Qin and King Dai, the faces of other vassal kings became gloomy again, full of tangle and embarrassment.
They are different from King Qin and King Dai. These two have nothing.
But they are different. They have countless wealth and many wives and concubines. If they are asked to give up, they don't want to and can't.
"Your Majesty, I am also willing to cut off my title as Prince of Fu, hand over all my family property, and live in Beijing from now on. I hope that your Majesty will show mercy and grant me a mansion and some money, so that I can become a rich man from now on."
King Fu also knelt down, his voice without any color.
grass……
This time the feudal kings were completely furious.
Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, there have been more than 60 vassal kings. Some vassal kings were exterminated because their sons became emperors, had no children, committed crimes, etc., and there are still 30 vassal kings left to this day.
Among these vassal kings, Prince Fu is definitely the number one in terms of dignity. Emperor Wanli's favorite son is also the uncle of the current emperor.
In terms of wealth and heritage, King Fu may not be as good as the feudal kings who have been inherited from Taizu to this day, but he can definitely crush the other feudal kings.
I dare not say anything else. The fertile land is definitely the most among all the feudal lords. There are 40,000 hectares of known land. What about the vassal land that has been obtained through other means over the years?
Such an honorable, powerful, and wealthy vassal king took the initiative to show his kindness, which put the other vassal kings on the fire. They had to do something.
"Your Majesty, the two emperors Huizong (Emperor Jianwen) and Chengzu reduced the vassal state because they were afraid that the vassal king would rebel.
But after becoming an ancestor, the vassal princes lost their military power, even the palace guards were transferred, and the vassal princes were prohibited from leaving the palace, etc.
There is no possibility of rebellion among the ministers anymore, so why is Your Majesty forcing each other so hard? "
"Your Majesty, since Your Majesty said that the clan's salary has seriously hindered the court, I have come up with a compromise. Starting today, the court will no longer provide the clan with salary, but retain the title. What do you think, your majesty?"
Chongzhen sneered but said nothing.
Although the clan salary system placed a huge burden on the court, it was far from bringing down the Ming Dynasty.
The Zonglu support system has undergone several reforms since Taizu to the present.
In the fourteenth year of Hongzhi's reign, the court announced that the rice banknotes for the county princes would be converted into half rice notes, and the rice notes for the princes and below would be 50% rice notes and 50% notes.
What is money? It's the Ming Dynasty treasure note.
Due to excessive printing, it had almost become waste paper during the Hongzhi period. Since then, the royal family's salary has been reduced by half in one reform.
The second time was in the first year of Jiajing. The imperial court distributed rice to the clan in the form of silver, but it was far lower than the local rice price, which was about 60% of the local rice price.
The third time was in the forty-fourth year of Jiajing, when the clan lumi was once again reduced on a large scale. On the basis of the first reform, it was once again divided into 30% of the true character and 70% of the money.
Take the county king as an example. Before the reform, he could receive two thousand stones. After one reform, he could only receive one thousand stones. After three reforms, he could only receive three hundred stones.
After the three reforms, the number of clans below the county and prince levels was reduced by 85%.
What's even more cruel is the fourth reform. In the eleventh year of Wanli, it was stipulated that the royal family's salary would always be customized.
For example, the lineage of the King of Qin had a thousand people as of the eleventh year of Wanli. From then on, no matter how many more people were added, the salary of these one thousand people would be paid, and the additional part would not be paid.
This year, three provinces, Henan, Shaanxi, and Shanxi, had quotas. It was not until the fifth year of Tianqi that all provinces had quotas.
But even so, this couldn't stand the large number of people in the clan. There were more than 900 county princes in the entire Ming Dynasty, and even now there are still more than 200.
Counting five sons for a county king, that is nearly five thousand generals who govern the country. If a general who governs the country has five sons, that is 25,000 generals who serve the country...
