Zhu Jianshen sat on the dragon chair and quietly watched the performances of the courtiers below.
Li Xian, Yu Qian and others seemed to be the target of public criticism.
Prince Ning, who was far away in Nanchang, was even accused of being "full of evil" and "heinous".
After Xu Youzhen learned about Prince Ning from Liu Qing, she immediately cleared her throat and said loudly: "Your Majesty."
In an instant, the hall became quiet again.
Everyone looked at Xu Youzhen, wanting to see how disgusting the Ming Dynasty's number one king could be in Yu Qian, and how Li Xian and others could scold Ning Wangfan.
Zhu Jianshen pretended to be ignorant and looked at Xu Youzhen with some confusion.
"Your Majesty, although Yu Taibao, Li Fuchen and others intended to hide this from Your Majesty, they did so for His Majesty's sake. I hope Your Majesty will put the matter past the past and not impose heavy penalties. They only need to deduct one or two years' salary from them."
After hearing what Xu Youzhen said, the cabinet ministers, including Yu Qian and Li Xian, all looked at Xu Youzhen.
Their faces were strange, either angry or confused...
But the thoughts in my heart are the same.
Isn’t this called a heavy punishment?
Not everyone has the ability like you Xu Youzhen, who can be sent abroad to make money, or can find a rich butcher to be his father-in-law.
We can wait for the rice to be cooked.
After Zhu Jianshen heard this, he also smiled bitterly in his heart. Xu Youzhen was really wicked. He didn't know about others, but Yu Qian was extremely incorruptible. As long as he said he was punished, Yu Taibao would have to borrow money to live.
The first minister of the Ming Dynasty cannot be so disrespectful.
And he also knew that Yu Qian's concealment was a punishment for himself.
He hates evil as much as he hates it, but he is willing to let his conscience linger for the sake of His Majesty the Emperor. Of course, Zhu Jianshen cannot follow Xu Youzhen's words.
"Yu Taibao and others deceived me, so they should indeed be punished. However, I still have to discuss with the Queen Mother before making a decision on how to punish them."
As soon as he said this, His Majesty couldn't think of anything else.
And Xu Youzhen was also a smart person, so she didn't mention it at all.
"Your Majesty, Prince Ning is a royal relative of the emperor. He is a prince and nobleman left by Emperor Taizu. However, he does not lead by example. He oppresses the people and seizes fertile land. He is unfaithful to the emperor. Xu Youzhen, a humble minister, requested an order to reprimand Prince Ning and seize all the land he had occupied. Return it." After saying that, Xu Youzhen knelt down and then continued: "Your Majesty, the affairs of the vassal are important matters. Your Majesty is still young and should not be too harsh on the vassal, but the affairs of the country are more important than the vassal. Please, Your Majesty, deal with this case according to your circumstances, and be sure not to hurt the people's sentiments."
After Xu Youzhen knelt down.
A group of supervisory censors and six ministries all knelt down in response to the incident.
"Your Majesty, please reprimand Ning Fan and do not hurt the people's sentiments."
There was a lot of cheering and kneeling in the hall, and everyone's enthusiasm was aroused.
Zhu Jianshen looked at this scene and was quite satisfied.
Of course it was not for Prince Ning, but for Xu Youzhen.
From then on, Xu Youzhen became influential in the court.
Zhu Jianshen retracted his thoughts, then looked at Zhang Bao blankly, and asked: "Zhang Daban, who is Ning Fan."
After Zhang Bao heard this, his expression did not change and he said: "Your Majesty, the current fiefdom of King Ning in Nanchang is the title of the vassal king of the seventeenth son of Emperor Taizu Gao. At this time, it is Zhu Dianpei, the grandson of King Ningjing."
Xu Youzhen, who was kneeling down, heard the conversation between Zhu Jianshen and Zhang Bao.
I was shocked.
Did your Majesty’s conversation with Eunuch Zhang tell me that the words of reprimand were a bit too light?
Xu Youzhen secretly raised her head and glanced at Zhu Jianshen.
Sure enough, His Majesty was looking at him.
Your Majesty said this to tell the imperial censors who are kneeling below that I don't even know Prince Ning, so you can rant as you please.
That's the prince.
The son of the grandson of Emperor Taizu Gao.
Apart from His Majesty and the Supreme Emperor, he is the most noble person in the Ming Dynasty.
Alas, that's not right.
Didn’t the Supreme Emperor also get sprayed beyond recognition?
That's right, a Ning Wangfan is nothing compared to the Supreme Emperor.
Why should I, Xu Youzhen, be afraid of this?
"Your Majesty, Prince Ning's vassal has committed a heinous crime. The reprimand should be extremely harsh and he should be punished with the confiscation of his salary for three years. Then, under Prince Ning's residence, there will be a group of princes from the Prince of Ning, including the Prince of Le'an, the Prince of Shicheng, the Prince of Geyang, and the Prince of Changrui. The kings and others should all receive reprimands and punishments along with Prince Ning. Only in this way can Prince Ning’s palace know the big mistake they have made, and can also alert other vassal kings not to bully the people and compete with them for profit."
After Zhu Jianshen heard this, he suddenly stood up and asked: "Isn't there only one King Ning? How can there be so many kings?"
As soon as this sentence came out, everyone was surprised. It seems that His Majesty did not have much involvement in the affairs of the vassal.
Yes, how could Prince Ning, who was only a generation old, give birth to so many princes?
But when His Majesty asks, someone must answer.
Zhan Yang is the official of the Ministry of Rites, and he should be the one to answer. Just when he was about to go out, he was preempted by Yu Qian: "Your Majesty, the matter of the vassal king was decided by Emperor Taizu Gao. Your Majesty's brother is the prince, and the prince The brother of the county king is the king of the county, the brother of the king is the general of the country, and the brother of the general of the country is the general of the auxiliary country..."
After Zhu Jianshen listened, he looked at Xu Youzhen blankly.
"Censor of Xudu, I feel that King Ning is supported by the people, but he actually bullies the people. Why don't we kill him directly and let them become common people to see which sect dares to bully the people."
After listening to Zhu Jianshen's words, all the ministers were silent.
Cut, cut the feudal clan.
Fear it like a tiger.
"Your Majesty, it's a bit serious. After all, Prince Ning is also a bloodline of Emperor Taizu Gao, and comes from the same lineage as your Majesty. Reprimanding and convicting him is already the maximum punishment." Xu Youzhen said quickly.
Zhu Jianshen nodded: "Since the censor of Xudu said so, you will write this edict of reprimand for me."
His Majesty the Emperor did not delve into the issue of reducing vassal vassals, which made all the ministers heave a sigh of relief.
"The losses of the common people must be borne by Prince Ning's Palace. Those officials of Prince Ning's Palace who participated in beating and driving away the people must be held accountable. Those local officials who sat idly by and ignored the people must also be held accountable. All sects and vassals of Prince Ning's line must be punished. If he does it again, he will be deprived of his title and demoted to a commoner." Zhu Jianshen said loudly.
"Your Majesty is wise." Then the censors who were kneeling on the ground began to shout wisely.
Yu Qian glanced at Li Xian and felt quite relieved. He and Li Xian did not think that what His Majesty the Emperor just said was just a joke.
Maybe Yu Qian's introduction just now made His Majesty realize that something was wrong.
Then Zhang Bao, under Zhu Jianshen's instruction, shouted to withdraw from the court.
Xu Youzhen ran to the palace gate early and stopped all the ministers participating in the court meeting.
"If you dare to spread what His Majesty said in the court, I, Xu Youzhen, will definitely help you betray the Ming Dynasty's secrets."
Xu Youzhen knew what Zhu Jianshen just said, why don't we cut him off.
If this reaches the ears of Zong Fan, there will definitely be an uproar.
This emperor is only ten years old, but he is already thinking about reducing his vassal status. When he grows up, he will definitely attack us. Why don't we think of a way to see if we can form an alliance.
Xu Youzhen's busyness outside the palace gate soon reached Zhu Jianshen's ears, which moved Zhu Jianshen deeply.
What Zhu Jianshen said just now was intentional. He wanted to reveal it to his ministers and was not afraid of it reaching the ears of the vassal kings.
In fact, the clan system of the Ming Dynasty was indeed a major malpractice.
But these things are royal matters.
If the emperor doesn't say it, the ministers can't mention it.
After Zhu Di successfully came to power, there were a series of restrictions on the vassals. These restrictions had almost eliminated their chance of rebellion.
Except for the King of Han, among the subsequent princes, only King Ning successfully brought Tang Bohu out of the circle. He wanted to take a one-day trip to Beijing, but was beaten out of the world by Wang Yangming.
The influence of the vassal king on the imperial power was already very low.
In real history, in the mid-Ming Dynasty, Emperor Hongzhi, Emperor Jiajing, Emperor Wanli, etc. all began to take action against the vassals, but they only acted in terms of reducing expenditures and did not completely eradicate the harm of vassals to the Ming Dynasty.
In the Ming Dynasty, eighty-seven princes were enfeoffed.
There are actually sixty-five kings, and the remaining twenty-two are due to posthumous titles.
Among the actual enfeoffed princes, fifteen princes were expelled due to crimes, and twelve princes were expelled due to extinct heirs. By the Chongzhen period, there were only thirty-four princes in the Ming Dynasty.
Although these princes had the largest royal salaries and the highest titles, their financial impact on the Ming Dynasty was the lowest.
The serious one is actually a derivative of the prince.
The prince.
There were more than 900 princes in the Ming Dynasty.
And the derivatives of the prince are even more countless.
What's more, during the period of Emperor Hongzhi, the champion of childbirth appeared in the Ming Dynasty clan, King Qingcheng Zhu Zhongyi.
This dude had ninety-six kids.
In the land of Shanxi, it is impossible to support a royal palace.
This troubled Emperor Hongzhi at the time, but the issue of vassalage was a long-standing problem for this benevolent emperor, and could only be solved with subsidies.
After the Zhengde Emperor Zhu Houzhao ascended the throne, it was King Qingcheng who took advantage of this and asked the court to send someone over to conduct a thorough check on the number of his descendants. He did not recognize his children and suspected that someone was pretending to be eating official food.
In the royal palace at that time, his son, daughter, grandson, granddaughter, great-grandson, great-granddaughter, eldest wife, little wife, son's eldest wife, little wife, grandson's eldest wife, little wife.
The whole palace was destroyed by Qian's master.
This also shocked Zhu Houzhao.
And since its development, it has become a microcosm of the Ming Dynasty clan.
Although they no longer have the throne to inherit, they will not starve to death because the country supports them anyway.
But in the later stage, Zhang Juzheng couldn't bear it anymore.
The clan members under the county king were allowed to take part in the imperial examinations and do things on their own, but they had to give up their clan status and there would be no subsidies from the court.
This is good news for those clan members who want to show their ambitions, but most clan members are unwilling to give up.
It also treats the root cause but not the root cause.
It would be fine if these clans were all honest, but there are always some clan members who, with the title of general, do things to bully men and dominate women, ruining the reputation of the Ming clan...
Zhu Jian in Qianqing Palace sighed deeply. He knew that he had a long way to go.
The affairs of the vassal king should be planned in the long term.
But there must be further strategies to cure it......
By shifting the burden of raising so many clans to training the army, the Ming Dynasty could have more than half a million elite soldiers on standby...
Biquge
