"It's a joke. Is it your little salary that I'm thinking about? What I'm thinking about is the millions of hectares of fertile land and tens of millions of silver in your hands."
"There's no possibility of you rebelling, but that's just facing me. It's hard to say in the future.
Therefore, your sin is not in the present, but in the future! "
Chongzhen snorted coldly, these two sentences were what he really meant.
Seeing that the emperor was silent, Prince Rong said: "Your Majesty, I will take a step back and return to the imperial court the taxes from various places that have been given to us by previous emperors."
Chongzhen still had a cold face and his heart was full of disdain.
Take another step back? enough?
Have you overestimated your importance to me? Or did you underestimate my appetite?
The other kings looked at each other secretly, and King Lu said: "Your Majesty, I will return all mines, mountains, forests, rivers, etc. to the court!"
…
"Your Majesty, I am willing to contribute all the shops, manors, etc. in my hands to the imperial court. Please grant your permission!"
…
"Your Majesty, I am willing to contribute one million taels of silver!"
…
Three or four vassal kings came out one after another, and they all said that they would give the resources under their control to the court, including mines, shops, antiques, calligraphy and paintings, etc., but they had no fields.
They are not stupid either. Fields are the most valuable at any time. Even if the emperor returns the land to the people, the fields in their hands are still valuable.
Under the policy of returning land to the people, each person only has five acres. Can he support himself with five acres?
The answer is yes, but feeding and being able to eat well and being able to eat well are two different things.
If they want to have extra money, have enough to eat, and build a house and marry a wife, farmers can only choose to diversify their land.
We used to charge 50% of the rent, but now that the people have land, can we charge 30%?
If 30% is too high, then harvest 10%. There must be people who know how to plant it.
If the common people don't farm, they still have people from subordinate clans to farm or even buy slaves. Anyway, they only need to maintain the farmland.
Moreover, there is only so much land, but the population is increasing. The land in the hands of the court is definitely not enough. In the end, the cultivated land in their hands is still worth a lot of money.
Each of them has at least 20,000 hectares in his hands, which translates to two million acres, and the yield per mu is two dan. This translates into an income of 200,000 taels of silver per year.
Now that the emperor has returned the land to the people, the people will have land to grow and food to eat in a short period of time.
But in the long run, these lands will still be annexed, and a lot of money will still be made.
These are the results of the discussions that the vassal kings gathered together during this period. Mines, shops, and even cash can be given, but farmland must not be given.
They are different from the land in the hands of the gentry and wealthy merchants. They are vassal kings, they live with the country, they have royal protection, and they can afford it.
The vassal kings have thought clearly about this truth. How can Chongzhen and the ministers in the six cabinet departments not know it?
"Okay, since you all have such an attitude, I won't say anything more. You all can go back.
You can stay in the capital if you want, you can go back if you want, I won't care about it, you can do whatever you want from now on! "
Chongzhen, who had been silent until now, spoke up, but as soon as he spoke, all the vassal kings were stunned.
They seemed to be unable to believe their ears when they were asked to go back.
Judging from the emperor's angry scolding and questioning just now, the emperor is determined to cut down the vassal, but now he is letting them go and they will do whatever they have to do.
When things go wrong, there must be monsters, and they are not fools.
Just when they were guessing the emperor's intentions, Wang Cheng'en, who had just left the Taimiao Temple and returned, whispered: "Your Majesty, King Zhu Shuo of the Tang Dynasty fainted when he was hit with nineteen sticks. He vomited blood when he was hit with the twenty-second stick and was sent to the Imperial Hospital.
But the injury was too severe, and the hospital failed to rescue him, so he died! "
"knew!"
Chongzhen's voice didn't waver at all. It was unusual for him to survive so many military sticks in his fifties and sixties.
"Tell the cabinet what happened, ask the cabinet to draft an edict to the Tang Palace, and transport Zhu Shuoyu's body back to Kaifeng. The grandson Zhu Yujian will temporarily take charge of the palace affairs."
After finishing his instructions, Chongzhen picked up the incense on the long desk and lit it, as if he was stating the process and apologizing to the ancestors.
Although his voice was soft, in this Ancestral Temple where even breathing was cautious, Wang Chengen's words were no less than thunder from the sky.
The vassal kings were startled. They had just been scolded by the emperor. They were so focused on winning the vassal title that they had forgotten about the execution of Tang Wang Zhu Shuoji outside.
When they heard that they were dead, they suddenly realized why the emperor let them go.
Since the King of Tang could avoid being beaten to death, wouldn't they be beaten to death based on the crimes they committed?
As long as they dare to step out of the Ancestral Temple, before noon, their evil deeds will be spread throughout the capital, and then the Jin Yiwei will arrest them and send them to prison.
The "Huang Ming Ancestor Instructions" stipulates very clearly that the crimes of clan members are discussed by the kings and the emperor commits suicide.
But they are all guilty, and if they want to avoid suspicion, then only the emperor has the final say. If not directly sentenced to death, they will be dead with a hundred sticks.
After they figured it out, the vassal kings were sweating on their foreheads, their faces were pale, and their whole bodies were trembling. They looked at the emperor who was offering incense, and their eyes were filled with fear.
Chongzhen inserted the standing incense into the incense burner, turned around and looked at the vassal kings: "Why haven't you left yet? Do you want me to take care of the food?"
In charge of food?
What do you care about? Food in prison?
All the vassal kings trembled like frightened birds, and instantly knelt down.
King Zhao trembled: "Your Majesty, what exactly do you want to do? You can tell me directly, and all the ministers will cooperate!"
"Whatever you want, I can give it to Your Majesty as long as I have it!"
"Give me everything?"
"Your Majesty, please speak!"
"I want your heads. Someone, drag them out and chop them off!"
King Zhao screamed out in horror, his eyes full of disbelief: "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, this... Isn't this what I mean?"
"Then what do you mean? Didn't you just say that as long as I want it, you will give it to me? Now that I want it and you don't give it, it is a crime of deceiving the emperor. The crime of deceiving the emperor still requires beheading."
"I, I, I don't dare, your majesty, please spare my life!"
"Your Majesty, I was wrong. I am willing to cooperate with Your Majesty unconditionally!"
"Your Majesty, as long as you spare me, I will do whatever your Majesty says!"
…
All the vassal kings were completely shattered by Chongzhen's play, and all of them cried bitterly.
Looking at a group of lords kneeling and crying, Chongzhen had a smile on his lips and had been busy all morning, wasn't it just for this moment?
This group of vassal princes who were imprisoned in the palace spent their days living and drinking. Although they were noble vassals, they had never experienced any major events, so how could they withstand his set of punches.
After enjoying the glory and wealth for most of their lives, they are more afraid of death than anyone else.
"Anyone who doesn't want to die, shut up!"
"Get up and stand up!"
After suppressing the smile at the corner of his mouth, Chongzhen shouted coldly: "Actually, it's not that you can't keep your vassal throne, but I don't have the right to make the decision!"
