In the thirty-first year of Hongwu, August 15th, the Mid-Autumn Festival.
It was originally necessary to attend court on the 15th, but Zhu Yunwen believed that during the Mid-Autumn Festival, he should reunite with his family, so he made a decree to postpone the court meeting by one day to the 16th, and arranged for officials to handle confidential and important matters in the morning. , go home for reunion.
Not only that, among the eunuchs and maids in the palace, those who are close to the capital can also go home to visit relatives.
If the journey is far away or there are no family members, the harem will be the home, with lanterns and colorful decorations, moon cakes and other gifts, and the Mid-Autumn Festival will be spent with the emperor and his concubines.
Ma Enhui got busy early in the morning, arranging for the harem officials to prepare a family banquet.
Zhu Yunwen still wanted to sleep a little longer, but Ma Enhui called him up and asked the palace maids to put on court clothes, saying that he would accept congratulations at Huagai Hall and Fengtian Hall.
Red tape.
Zhu Yunwen didn't like but had to accept these etiquettes, because the Ming Dynasty ruled the world, and this set of etiquettes played a vital role.
The collapse of rituals and music is a sign of a country's demise.
The order of the court, the rank of officials, and their words and deeds are all related to etiquette.
What clothes to wear, what belt to wear, how to speak when you see the living, how to cry when you see the dead, these are all etiquette.
If you make a mistake, it will not be a simple punishment with a look or a word of blame. You will probably be impeached, and the minimum will be deduction of salary, and the worst will be dismissal from office and beheading.
If you live in ancient times, you must naturally follow the ancient etiquette. You should not be too shocking. If you shout about the liberation of humanity and freedom of dressing, you will be scolded to death...
Huagai Palace.
Ma Enhui, together with Zhu Yunwen's younger brothers Zhu Yunxi, Zhu Yunxun and Zhu Yunxi, as well as all the servants and officials in the harem, knelt down and saluted Zhu Yunwen.
"On the golden autumn festival, I wish to congratulate Your Majesty and the Ming Dynasty. I wish His Majesty a healthy body and may the Ming Dynasty enjoy peace and prosperity."
Ma Enhui saluted respectfully.
Zhu Yunwen accepted everyone's congratulations, stepped forward to help Ma Enhui, signaled everyone to get up, and then said: "Today is the Mid-Autumn Festival, and I also hope that you will work together and be of one mind to contribute to our prosperous Ming Dynasty."
Everyone was excited and expressed that they would never live up to the emperor's high expectations.
"What's this?"
After Zhu Yunwen signaled everyone to leave, he saw a memorial on the desk and couldn't help but ask.
Ma Enhui smiled and said: "Your Majesty, this is a congratulatory gift from the uncles. There is also a list of family banquets here. Please make your decision."
Zhu Yunwen picked up the memorial, unfolded it, and immediately smiled.
Among the congratulatory gifts from Uncle Wang, those from King Zhu Di of Yan and King Zhu Zhi of Liao were the heaviest. Looking at the dense records above, it goes without saying that the two of them have already spent their fortune.
Zhu Yunwen can understand the focus of Zhu Di's congratulations.
After all, a series of actions were directed towards Zhu Di. He was under pressure, and it was reasonable to express in this way that he had no second thoughts and was willing to surrender.
But King Zhu Zhi of Liao also sent heavy gifts, which was a bit surprising.
However, there are still benefits. Training the new army now requires a lot of money and food support. Although one hundred thousand soldiers and horses have been abolished, part of the expenditure has been saved, but savings alone are not enough to support the new army.
The key lies in open source. These things are good. Keep some as inventory and sell the rest, which is also a source of income.
"You can decide the family dinner list."
Zhu Yunwen went to salute Empress Dowager Lu, said a few words, and left.
In the evening, Zhu Yunwen held a family banquet in the Provincial Palace to entertain his uncles, consorts, brothers, and relatives to congratulate him on the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Zhu Yunwen came with the ceremony and music. After taking his seat, he motioned for everyone to get up and said: "The Mid-Autumn Festival banquet is all my family members, please get up."
"Thank you, Your Majesty."
Everyone rises up.
"I wish your Majesty that the moon will shine brightly in the Mid-Autumn Festival and that all the people will be safe and peaceful. May the Ming Dynasty be prosperous in culture and military affairs and famous all over the world. May the Emperor be in good health and everything goes well."
As the leader of the vassal, Zhu Di led everyone to pay their respects.
Zhu Yunwen smiled and asked everyone to stand up again, and then sat down.
"Since I came to the throne, this is the first time I have held a family banquet to entertain my uncles and brothers. Although it coincides with the Mid-Autumn Festival and the reunion of the family and the country, the period of filial piety has expired, and uncles have to stay away from the capital and go to the frontier fortress. I can't bear to leave. Extremely."
Zhu Yunwen said with sincere emotion.
Zhu Di, Ning Wang and others were suddenly shocked. Hearing what Zhu Yunzhen meant, did he not want everyone to go and become a vassal?
King Zhu Zhi of the Liao Dynasty looked at Zhu Yunwen, turned his eyes, and said: "The emperor's concern is the foundation of human kindness. I have an idea, should I mention it?"
Zhu Zhi, the fifteenth son of Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming Dynasty, was granted the title of King of Liao and established the vassal state of Guangning, which is Guangning Prefecture near Yiwulu Mountain in Liaoning, and later became Beizhen City.
Zhu Yunwen looked at his uncle, who was only 21 years old and about the same age as himself, and said with a smile: "At the family dinner, what can't you say? Tell me."
"Your Majesty, the winter winds in Guangning are biting and biting, and the journey is endless. I really don't want to stay in Guangning, and I would like to beg the Emperor to change my fiefdom..."
Zhu Zhi really wasn't kidding.
The winter in Liaodong is extremely cold and freezing, and it is indeed hard to endure.
I was born in Nanjing, but before I had time to enjoy the beautiful scenery of Jiangnan, I went to a cold area that was uninhabitable when I was fifteen or sixteen.
At a young age, holding tens of thousands of soldiers and horses is indeed a sight, but beauty cannot be eaten as food.
As soon as there is a military report, I have to tremble like a dog and get out. Sometimes I can't even sleep well. I feel sorry for myself. I don't know how much I miss the days in the capital.
Taking advantage of his father Zhu Yuanzhang's departure, he returned to the capital for the funeral. This powerful contrast in life made Zhu Zhi completely tired of Liaodong. Having made up his mind, the emperor pretended to be ill and stayed even if he asked him to go away.
"Uncle King Liao is the rock of Liaodong, the pillar of the empire in Liaodong. Grandpa kisses Uncle King Liao, how can I change it..."
Zhu Yunwen said with difficulty.
No wonder Zhu Zhi gave him such a generous gift because he wanted to go through the back door. He was a smart man.
Zhu Zhi hurriedly complained and talked about the hard life in Liaodong. Finally, he pinched his thigh cruelly and pointed at it regardless of etiquette. He said that this was frostbite in the winter. If he went back, he would probably have to deal with this leg. There it is.
Everyone looked at it and saw that it was obviously a purple bruise, but somewhere it looked like frostbite. Even if you were faking it, you still need some snacks. Besides, you have been running around the capital these past few months. Who doesn't know that your legs and feet are good?
If it weren't for Rexiao, you would have caused a lot of trouble.
Zhu Yunwen looked at Zhu Zhi's sincere eyes, sighed, and said: "In that case, Uncle Prince Liao will stay in the capital to recuperate. As for the fiefdom, let's change it to Songjiang Mansion."
Songjiang Mansion!
The feudal kings were suddenly shocked.
Songjiang Prefecture has fertile land, rich products, and beautiful clouds. It has been an important source of finance for all dynasties.
During the Yuan Dynasty, it was known as the "land of plenty".
The Ming Dynasty paid more attention to Songjiang. According to statistics from the 24th year of Hongwu, Songjiang Prefecture had 47,605 hectares of land and a land tax of 1.4 million shi. Although this data is the result of heavy taxes, it also shows that Songjiang is rich in products!
Coupled with the continuous cropping of cotton, mulberry, rice and wheat, and the development of tidal flats, it has rich cultural heritage and prosperous commerce. Not far from it is Suzhou to the west and Hangzhou to the southwest. It is only 800 miles away from the capital Nanjing!
Such a prosperous and important place, the emperor actually entrusted it to King Zhu Zhi of Liao!
Zhu Zhi felt a little unreal, pinched himself, and then realized that this was not a dream, and quickly knelt down to thank him: "Thank you, the Emperor!"
The vassal kings looked at the surprised Zhu Zhi, and most of them were envious.
But for Yan Wang Zhu Di, Ning Wang Zhu Quan and others, they felt extremely frightened.
If Zhu Yunwen imitated Song Taizu's "liberation of military power over a glass of wine" and played a trick of "a family banquet to make a country famous", would he agree to it or not?
If he agrees, he won’t even have to go back to his fiefdom!
Directly hand over military power and move to the south!
If you don't agree, the emperor will think, what do you mean? Don’t you want to be close to me? Why don’t you stay with me? Don’t you want to enjoy the glory and wealth in peace, but you still want to use a knife or a crossbow?
Seeing that Zhu Zhi had reaped the benefits, Min King Zhu Geng remembered that he had eaten sand in Gansu and the hard days in the wild land of Yunnan. He was only twenty years old and had suffered a lot. Now that he had the opportunity to end it all, why not take the chance?
He didn't know where he got a piece of ginger, and secretly wiped it on his eyes. With tears streaming down his face, he shouted: "Your Majesty, I also want to change my fiefdom..."
Zhu Yunwen did not allow it, saying that Yunnan could not live without King Min.
Zhu Geng kept crying and no longer wanted to stay in Yunnan. For the sake of your own happiness for the rest of your life, just be embarrassed.
Yunnan in the Ming Dynasty was not the Yunnan of later generations where there was no spring city and no flying flowers. Some people took a lot of money to travel.
At that time, Yunnan was not only backward, but the natives were still unruly. It was very common to get a few elephants to rebel today, a few javelins to grab grain tomorrow, and to kill individuals.
Besides, even in the 21st century, there are many poor areas in Yunnan, let alone the early Ming Dynasty more than 600 years ago!
Zhu Yunwen was really fed up, waved his hand and said: "Okay, okay, I promise you."
Zhu Geng stopped crying immediately, thanked him hurriedly, and smiled with tears on his face. There was nothing he could do, Jiang was used too much.
Zhu Yunwen looked at the others, and before Zhu Di, Zhu Quan, Zhu Gui, Zhu Mei and others expressed their opinions, Zhu Yunwen said first: "Uncles, don't think about changing fiefdoms. The Ming Empire still needs uncles to guard it before I can sleep." You have to feel at ease."
"Your Majesty..." Zhu Quan gritted his teeth and shouted, "I don't want to stay away from the capital, so I ask for your permission."
"Uncle Ning Wang, I just said, don't think about changing fiefdoms." Zhu Yunwen frowned and said seriously: "I need you to protect the Ming Dynasty. This is a family banquet. I promised the King of Liao and the King of Min, but I am already uneasy. If this continues, what will happen to the borders of the empire?”
Zhu Quan had no choice but to take back his words, and Zhu Di and others felt relieved.
As for Qin King Zhu Shangbing, he is only an eight-year-old child and doesn't care about this matter.
There is also King Zhu Jixi of Jin. Although he is in his twenties, he is still the second generation vassal king.
Their father passed away early, and the two of them had little prestige in the army. A few days ago, they went to the palace hand in hand to find the Queen Mother, begging the Queen Mother to come forward and let them stay in the capital.
Seeing that it was the Queen Mother who spoke, Zhu Yunwen naturally agreed, but did not announce it to the public.
As a result, three of the nine great fortress kings in the north have been eliminated, namely: King Zhu Zhi of Liao, King Zhu Shangbing of Qin, and King Zhu Jixi of Jin. There are still six great fortress kings left!
These people are the most troublesome existence!
As for Zhu Geng, King of Min in Yunnan, he was not a threat in the first place, and changing him to a feudal vassal was just a matter of taking advantage of the trend.
