Chapter 251 King Lu

Yanzhou Prefecture, Shandong Province.

It covers 23 counties in four prefectures: Jining, Dongping, Cao and Yi.

Compared with the Song and Yuan Dynasties, Yanzhou's status has been greatly improved, and it has become the seat of Yanzhou's government, which governs four states and 23 counties. This is closely related to the fact that Yanzhou is a fiefdom of King Zhu Tan of Lu.

Zhu Tan was the tenth son of Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang. He was born in the third year of Hongwu. He was named King of Lu two months after he was born. Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang liked this little son very much. After he was made Queen, he sent people to Qufu to worship Confucius. At the same time, he also performed sacrifices on behalf of the infant Zhu Tan to report the mountains and rivers of the state of Lu.

But Zhu Tan was a short-lived prince. He went to Yanzhou to join the feudal lord at the age of 15 in the 18th year of Hongwu. He died at the age of 19 due to "eye injuries caused by the poison of bait, gold, stone and medicine". This made Zhu Yuanzhang both sad and angry. To posthumously call him "King of Huang" is to hate him for his absurdity.

Subsequent kings of Lu all began their lives of debauchery in their fiefdoms.

According to the Ming Dynasty system, the prince is the highest-ranking nobility. In his feudal kingdom, the prince's status and authority are supreme. The place where the prince lives is also called the Imperial Palace. In addition to the eunuchs and maids, there is also a huge The "Chang Shi Division" of the Yamen has more than a dozen agencies under it, which are responsible for all aspects of the palace from food, medical care to ceremonial security. There are more than 30 high-ranking officials, as well as several thousand craftsmen and guard sergeants. many.

However, in order to maintain a prosperous life and support the economic foundation of this huge group, the palace has a large amount of property.

Prince Lu's Mansion has thousands of hectares of land, distributed in southwestern Shandong and even counties in Henan and Jiangsu.

No taxes are paid on the land of the royal palace. In addition, all royal members have different salaries according to their rank. Moreover, during festivals, birthdays or weddings and funerals, the court will receive rewards and local officials will receive tribute.

After the Ming Dynasty, both common people and gentry voluntarily donated land to the Lu Palace in order to avoid increasingly heavy taxes, which also made the Lu Palace the largest landowner.

At this moment, Zhu Yangzhu, the fourth generation King of Lu, looked at the person in front of him with a pale face. Not to mention maintaining the dignity and dignity of Prince Daming. If the person in front of him hadn't taken the initiative to stop him, he would have even wanted to kneel on the ground and kowtow to him. Got it!

Without him, the man in front of me was the Grand Marshal of the Suppression of Bandits this time, the Marquis of Zhongshan of the Ming Dynasty, Tang Hao, who commanded 30,000 soldiers of the Beijing Army!

Tang Hao looked at the fourth-generation King Lu who was about to die in front of him with a strange expression.

How should I put it, he just stopped by to see what kind of person this fourth-generation King Lu was who was famous in history for gathering people for promiscuity.

Well, generally speaking, people who can leave comments such as "gathering people together for lewdness" in official history are definitely not simple things.

In November of the 16th year of Chenghua, 33-year-old Zhu Yangzhu and Princess Zhang were drinking at the same table with outsiders, and the men and women mingled together. When they were drunk, the palace servant Zhu Huarong had an affair with the soldier Yuan Bin and Princess Lu's brother Zhang Shiju, which was shocking. Called large...

Then the matter was reported by Princess Qixia, Zhu Yangzhu's sister. Zhu Yangzhu was reprimanded, two-thirds of Lumi was expelled, Princess Zhang was stripped of her concubine title, Yuan Bin beheaded in public, Zhang Shiju and Zhu Huarong were sentenced to hanging, and the rest were sent to serve as border guards. The army had a long history and the verdict was wrong, and the entire Prince Lu's Mansion suffered a fatal blow as a result.

The royal court has given less money, but the living conditions of Prince Lu, as well as the treatment of the concubines and clan members of Prince Lu's palace, cannot be reduced!

So Prince Lu's Mansion started a desperate path of crazy annexation of fields!

Speaking of which, this was because the imperial court was becoming increasingly decadent and dark, and various social conflicts that had accumulated over a long period of time were gradually revealed and intensified. The royal family, relatives, vassals, dignitaries and bureaucratic landowners took advantage of various political privileges granted by the court to intensify their annexation, plunder and exploitation of peasant land. For example, most or half of the farm land in Yanzhou Prefecture, Jiyang, Zouxian and Wenshang counties belonged to the royal family of King Lu. The peasants' corvee burden was also extremely heavy. Building palaces, dredging canals, building mausoleums, and other unprecedented projects often mobilized tens of thousands or even millions of civilians.

Yanzhou Prefecture is a canal fortress. What happened?

"The roads are full of people picking up packages, dragging people along, and the night is endless. The people are extremely trapped, and the houses are almost empty."

The people's transportation along the canal was miserable.

Speaking of which, the common people of Yanzhou Prefecture have indeed suffered eight lifetimes of bad luck!

The first one is the Palace of Prince Lu. From the first generation of Prince Lu, he was famous for being ridiculous. Then, the second generation of Prince Lu acted like a normal person and left a virtuous name in history. After that, each of these became more and more famous. Play, at least fine clothes, fine food, large-scale fornication and other activities are indispensable.

The second is the Kong family in Qufu City. He is a descendant of the most holy teacher. As long as he has a noble status, there is nothing more to say. Emperors and generals of all dynasties, including Jurchens and Mongols, have to pay tribute. These Kong clan members have a lot of face, and it’s best to win them over if you can.

Therefore, in Yanzhou Prefecture, there are almost only two possibilities for fields, either with the surname Zhu or with the surname Kong.

Moreover, this surname is Zhu, not the Zhu of the royal family, but the Zhu of the clan, specifically referring to King Lu!

Although the Zhu Yangzhu in front of him is a little ridiculous, he has a pretty good reputation in history.

That's because in the later period of his term, the court was corrupt and officials were in chaos, which led to social and economic decline, people's lives were difficult, social conflicts intensified, peasant uprisings surged, and the rebel army surrounded Yanzhou's capital several times. King Luzhuang personally went to the city and mobilized the officers and soldiers from all the prefectures and palaces to hold on to the city, so that the solid Yanzhou city was not captured by the rebels.

Historically, Liu Liu and Liu Qi's peasant rebel army did lead their troops to besiege Yanzhou. Zhu Yangzhu, the King of Luzhuang, personally led the clan members to climb the city and defend it. The King of Guishan in Lufu was extremely strong and brave, and was good at shooting. He seized the guards' bows and crossbows, climbed the city and shot around, killing many people. The rebels failed to capture the city, so they turned around and captured Jining Prefecture City.

In this extremely dangerous social environment, King Luzhuang, the clan members, and the officers and soldiers of the Yanzhou Prefecture Office defended the city, actively cooperated with the court, and tried their best to maintain the stability of the Yanzhou Prefecture City, which fully demonstrated that King Luzhuang maintained a high degree of political consistency with the court, which made him highly evaluated in the annals.

However, the evil deeds this guy did behind the scenes were indeed not few, he took human lives lightly, was extremely licentious, and was just a standard prince of the Ming Dynasty, nothing to say.

"Lord Lu, no need to be polite."

"I am just visiting you on the way, no other intention."

Hearing this, Zhu Yangzhu was relieved immediately, but when he noticed Tang Hao's terrifying figure as big as a mountain, his heart was still lifted.

There is no way, a person's reputation is like a tree's shadow, and there are really few people in the Ming Dynasty who are not afraid of this cruel official.

Especially this damned Zhongshan Marquis, who staged a good show not long ago, chasing after the so-called rebels and slaughtering all the Zhili gentry. Even Zhu Yangzhu couldn't help feeling panic and fear when facing this killing god.

"Lord Tang, you have worked hard to suppress the rebellion, please come in and talk."

"The little prince learned that Lord Tang was coming to visit, so he specially prepared fine wine and delicious food..."

"Okay." Tang Hao chuckled and said: "I have heard that Zhu Danglu, the King of Guishan in Lu Fan, is brave and good at fighting. Lord Lu, can you invite him to the banquet?"

Zhu Danglu?

That rebellious son who only knows how to play with swords, guns, sticks and clubs?

Zhu Yangzhu immediately had an idea. As long as the Marquis of Zhongshan was willing to show his favor, let alone let his son accompany him for drinking, even if it was the princess... cough cough, the Marquis of Zhongshan didn't seem to like women.

"Of course!"

Zhu Yangzhu eagerly pulled Tang Hao into the hall, and then ordered someone to invite Zhu Dangluo. Even the prince Zhu Dangluo was not qualified to attend the banquet.

According to the clan system of the Ming Dynasty, the first generation of princes, the second generation of the eldest son inherited the prince, and the rest of the children were conferred the title of county kings. After the third generation of county kings, there were three levels of generals, and after the generals, there were third-class lieutenants. From top to bottom, there were salaries to be received.

Emperor Taizu Gao, Zhu Yuanzhang, established the clan system. Based on the small peasant idea of ​​"the emperor established the country and the princes established the family", the treatment given to the various vassal kings was also quite generous.

Each of the vassal kings was granted his own territory, and was able to establish his own army within the fiefdom. He had three exclusive guards, which controlled the local military power in disguise and formed a clamp with the local officials who held the local governance power, thus preventing the vassal kings from making trouble.

The royal family members of the Ming Dynasty had a total of eight levels, with an annual salary of 10,000 dan for the prince, 2,000 dan for the county king, 1,000 dan for the general guarding the country, 800 dan for the general supporting the country, 600 dan for the general serving the country, 400 dan for the lieutenant guarding the country, 300 dan for the lieutenant supporting the country, and 200 dan for the lieutenant serving the country.

Although it was said that the rank was reduced in sequence, the emperors of all dynasties had offspring, which caused the number of royal family members to continue to grow, and even increased sharply in the way of branching out!

In addition, the emperor's daughter, that is, the princess of the court, although not given a title, can also enjoy the same salary as the county king, that is, an annual salary of 2,000 dan, and the daughter of the county king, the princess, enjoys the same salary as the general supporting the country, an annual salary of 800 dan.

After such calculation, the number of royal family members recorded by Emperor Hongwu alone, including the sons and grandsons of the emperor, is fifty-eight. If each of these fifty-eight people has two or three children, then the second generation will have three or four hundred people, and the third generation will double again...

Although Tang Hao is not proficient in mathematics, he at least has some common sense and can do simple calculations.

In other words, if the royal family system of the Ming Dynasty is not reformed, the Ming Dynasty's finances will sooner or later be dragged down by royal family members!

After eight or nine generations, the number of royal family members has skyrocketed to tens of millions. Even if it is calculated based on the two hundred stones of the lowest-level lieutenant of Fengguo, the court has to allocate millions of stones of grain and grass to these royal family members every year!

How much grain does the Ming Dynasty's finance collect in taxes every year?

People's livelihood is not developing?

Soldiers are not given rations?

Officials are not paid salaries?

The court has many places to spend money and grain.

As a result, the big money had to be used to support these fat and unproductive members of the royal family. Even a fool could imagine the ridiculous and ironic sad scene!

If it really came to this, the Ming Dynasty would not be far from collapse!

In fact, the royal family of the Ming Dynasty was a notorious blood-sucking worm. At the beginning of the founding of the country, Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang divided his descendants in various places, "initially conferred 49 titles of princes and generals", but under the stimulation of policies, by the end of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang's descendants had multiplied to millions!

The royal descendants of the old Zhu family enjoyed privileges, were not subject to ordinary laws, and were not under the control of local officials. The palaces, clothing and military cavalry of the kings were one level lower than the emperor, and the titles were hereditary. When the dukes and ministers saw them, they had to "bow down and pay homage". Not only did they not have to pay taxes, they could even collect taxes, fish taxes, and salt shops in the local area. There were also a very small number of royal family members who relied on their privileges to bully local officials.

Zhu Yuanzhang, a grassroots emperor who came from a poor peasant family, attached more importance to blood ties after he became emperor, so he treated his descendants extremely well and set up generous salary standards. In the ninth year of Hongwu, the annual salary of princes was 50,000 dan of rice and 25,000 strings of cash, which was later reduced.

In order to allow the royal family to fully enjoy happiness, Zhu Yuanzhang stipulated that the royal family did not have to engage in any profession, and all consumption needs of each royal descendant were borne by the state. This meticulous "care" was unique in Chinese history, so much so that the Ming people could not help but sigh, "The grace of our dynasty is so generous that it is far greater than that of previous generations."

However, the result was that in order to ask the court for more salaries, the princes started a baby-making competition, and the royal children launched a fierce reproductive competition. For example, King Qingcheng had more than 100 sons and countless daughters, and all of them had to be supported by the court.

With the rapid increase in the population of the royal family, the total amount of salaries received by the royal family was huge, and the total amount of rice allocated far exceeded the annual grain supply to the capital from all parts of the country, and the country also bore a heavy burden.

This money was not much for each person, but when combined, it was a huge expense. Since the rise of civil officials and gentry after the Civil Engineering, the court was already short of money. It had to be used for border defense, suppressing rebels, and supporting these clans. It is conceivable why the Ming Dynasty was going from bad to worse.

Unfortunately, the government and the people seemed to be unaware of this, and even thought that it was natural to support these blood-sucking worms who eat dry food.

The problem is that they not only suck blood, but also suck marrow.

Not only did they annex land in their fiefdoms and exploit the people, but they also asked the court for money and salaries. They lived a richer and more abundant life than the emperor, but they didn't have to do anything.

If it were Tang Hao, the Marquis of Zhongshan in the Ming Dynasty, he would be a little unbearable now.

Glancing at the delicacies on the table, Tang Hao was not polite. He ate and drank as he should, because he would waste it if he didn't eat.

During this period, Zhu Yangzhu and Zhu Dangqi, father and son, toasted many times, and Tang Hao also gave enough face, which could be said to be accepted by everyone.

For a while, the host and the guests were all happy.

Zhu Yangzhu may have drunk too much, and couldn't help asking in a low voice: "Tang Hou, I heard that the rebels in Bazhou have surrounded Qufu City!"

"Looking at your posture, it seems that you didn't go..."

"Oh!" Tang Hao chuckled, "It's none of my business!"

"If they want to slaughter the Kong family, then slaughter them. I'm busy drinking and eating meat, so I don't have time to deal with them!"

After this, even Zhu Yangzhu couldn't help but take a breath of cold air and looked at the person in front of him in disbelief.

After all, it's Kong!

It's the blood descendant of the Great Sage Teacher!

How dare you, Tang Hao, indulge the rebels deliberately...

"Marquis Tang, this matter cannot be decided lightly!"

"After all, they are descendants of the most holy teacher, how can they just..."

Tang Hao spit out the bone in his mouth disapprovingly, and then grinned: "Why, is the prince also a child of a famous school?"

Zhu Yangzhu immediately retorted: "Marquis Tang, don't slander my innocence out of thin air. I am a legitimate prince of the royal family. What a bullshit child of a famous school, all those Confucian officials and scholars are just flattering themselves!"

In order to clear the relationship, Zhu Yangzhu did not hesitate to scold the children of the famous school.

Zhu Dangqi heard this and sneered disdainfully.

Zhongshan Marquis may not know, but does his son know it?

In order to maintain his reputation, his father, the king, is a dilettante. He likes to entertain some great Confucian scholars whenever he has time, as if he is also a cultured person.

Zhu Dangchu's disdain caught the eyes of Zhu Yangzhu and Tang Hao.

Zhu Yangzhu wanted to slap him and teach his son a lesson, but Tang Hao stopped him.

"Are you Zhu Dangchu? The King of Guishan of Ming Dynasty?"

Zhu Dangchu was stunned and hadn't reacted yet.

However, he was also a young and fearless person, and he had drunk some wine, so he answered directly and unceremoniously.

"I am a prince, and you are just a marquis. You should call me a prince, not a name like you do?"

Zhu Yangzhu was so scared that his liver and gallbladder almost broke after hearing this. He hurriedly stood up and slapped Zhu Dangchu on the forehead, and then shouted in a low voice: "You damn idiot, why don't you apologize to Marquis Tang!"

"If he wants to deal with us, you and I will die without a burial place!"

Hearing this, Zhu Dangchu was also a little dumbfounded and scratched his head subconsciously.

However, he was proud of being a member of the royal family of the Ming Dynasty, and he refused to bow his head and apologize to Tang Hao.

I still say the same thing!

I am the prince of the Ming Dynasty!

You bastard is just a Marquis of Zhongshan!

Why should I, a prince, bow my head to a marquis like you?

"Hahaha..." Tang Hao couldn't help laughing out loud, his tone full of joy.

This Zhu Dangchu was exactly the target of his trip.

Zhu Dangchu, the seventh-generation grandson of Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, was strong by nature and liked to wield guns and sticks.

In the seventh year of Zhengde in history, more than a thousand "bandits" (Liu Liu and Liu Qi) came to Yanzhou from Zou County, set up camp outside the east gate, and attacked the city gate.

Zhu Dangchu led people to defend the city and shot back the attackers with flying arrows, so he was praised by King Lu.

From then on, he liked to practice martial arts more and was famous for his bravery and bravery at that time.

This was undoubtedly outstanding and extremely rare among the royal family of Zhu Ming who lived a life of drunkenness and dreams.

If used well, this guy might become a famous general!

But the prerequisite is that Zhu Houzhao agrees to let him lead the army!

This involves the current vassal system of the Ming Dynasty.

Tang Hao was confident that Zhu Houzhao would change his mind and make reforms to the vassal system!

"Zhu Dangluo!"

"If you have the guts, stop pretending to be a prince and go out and practice with me!"

Young people can't stand being provoked, so Zhu Dangluo fell for it.

When he came back with a bruised face, he looked at his father Zhu Yangzhu and burst into tears.

"Father, this bastard is not a human being. He is waiting for me to go out and beat me up!"

Zhu Yangzhu: "..."