Chapter 271 Cleaning up Wangzhuang

The clan meeting ended smoothly.

Under the intimidation of His Majesty the Emperor and the Marquis of Zhongshan, the princes finally agreed to this slightly harsh new clan and vassal system.

After all, His Majesty the Emperor's attitude was very clear. The vassal ban could be lifted, but the clan and vassal princes must fully support His Majesty the Emperor and fight with the civil officials and gentry to seize the imperial power.

Zhu Houzhao left only Prince Xing Zhu Youji, this legitimate fourth uncle was the head of the clan he really chose.

In the hall, in addition to Prince Xing Zhu Youji, there were Tang Hao, Chen Kuan and Zhu Houzhao.

At this point, Zhu Houzhao didn't pretend.

"Fourth uncle, I think you should understand it."

"I do intend to bring the clan power into the court to fight against the civil officials and gentry."

Prince Xing Zhu Youji nodded subconsciously when he heard this.

But he couldn't understand why the emperor just targeted him?

In terms of the influence of the royal family, he, a newly promoted prince, is naturally inferior to the old princes such as the King of Qin and the King of Jin.

In terms of the financial resources of the royal palace, it is even more impossible to compare with these old princes who have been passed down for hundreds of years.

Zhu Youju can't even take out the 10,000 taels of silver that he previously presented to the court, and he has to find a way to sell his property.

So, no matter how you look at it, the person that His Majesty the Emperor should choose should not be him, Zhu Youju, the Prince of Xing.

Perhaps seeing Zhu Youju's doubts, Zhu Houzhao said sincerely: "Fourth uncle, you are my fourth uncle, just based on this close relationship, I can trust you."

"In addition, fourth uncle treats the people well in the fiefdom, and has never done anything illegal. This is also what I respect the fourth uncle the most."

"So, I hope fourth uncle can fully support me and win this war!"

War!

What war?

The war between the emperor's royal family and the civil officials and gentry!

Zhu Youji sighed in his heart. He had expected such an outcome today.

Even though His Royal Highness Xing Wang had never had any fighting spirit, he had no right to refuse at this point.

Whether it was for the old Zhu family or for himself, Zhu Youji had to agree.

So he immediately stood up and knelt on the ground, saying loudly: "I will do my best and die!"

"But Your Majesty, this Zhu Chenhao..."

Since he had made up his mind to completely turn to His Majesty the Emperor and take charge of the royal family for him, Zhu Youji also put himself in the right position and began to remind the Emperor Zhu Houzhao.

"I heard that this Zhu Chenhao has done many illegal things in his fiefdom, raising desperate people to eliminate dissidents, persecute the people, and plunder the people's fat. This thief obviously wants to...rebellion!"

Hearing this, Zhu Houzhao was in a good mood.

This means that from this moment on, Zhu Youji has become his absolute confidant.

"Don't worry, Fourth Uncle. I know what Zhu Chenhao did."

"If that's the case, why does Your Majesty still..." Zhu Youji couldn't understand.

"Giving this position to this thief, Zhu Chenhao, is simply giving wings to a tiger!"

After all, Zhu Youji was born in the royal family, so he knew the basic knowledge of the court. Moreover, he was always smart and immediately analyzed the problem.

"Zhu Chenhao's appointment as the Minister of the Ministry of Rites can, first, take the opportunity to collude with other princes and clans, second, monitor Your Majesty's daily movements, and third, use his power to embezzle and accept bribes. Isn't this a disguised way of helping this thief to rebel?"

Tang Hao looked at Zhu Youji thoughtfully.

No wonder his son was so smart. After entering the capital as a young man and ascending the throne, he beat the whole court. This father is not a simple guy!

Zhu Houzhao also smiled and nodded, very satisfied with Zhu Youji's performance.

"I did it on purpose."

"He wants to rebel, so I will help him rebel."

"When the situation stabilizes, I will uproot these traitors and purge the entire court!"

Zhu Youju was shocked when he heard this. He was really bold!

If this goes wrong, the Tian family will change hands!

But since His Majesty the Emperor has been prepared, there is nothing to say.

Such an emperor, such a son of heaven, coupled with the peerless general Tang Hao, the Marquis of Zhongshan, may really be able to... revive the Ming Dynasty?

For a while, Zhu Youju was a little dazed.

Zhu Youju knew his third brother, the Emperor Hongzhi, who was praised by the world.

Their father, Emperor Chenghua, favored Concubine Wan alone, so that Concubine Wan was favored in the harem, but she was too old to give birth to a son, and her only son unfortunately died, so this vicious woman began to secretly murder the dragon son and tried every means to abort the pregnant palace maid.

One day, the palace maid who was supposed to accompany Emperor Chenghua to bed was sick, so the maid Ji was asked to take her place. Ji became pregnant after spending a night with Emperor Chenghua. At that time, Concubine Wan, who was favored by Zhu Jianshen, tried every means to abort the pregnant palace maid. Ji was no exception after she became pregnant, but she did not abort the baby. She announced to the public that she had aborted the baby. In fact, she secretly raised the baby Zhu Youtang in the West Palace. However, Zhu Youtang had no hair on his head for several inches, which was the sequelae of the abortion drug.

Until Emperor Chenghua sighed in the harem one day that he had no children, a young eunuch said that the emperor already had a son. Emperor Chenghua was greatly surprised and asked where the child was. The young eunuch did not dare to say it. It was the eunuch Huai En who reported that he was raised in the West Palace and was already six years old. Only then did the father and son recognize each other.

Concubine Wan, the vicious woman, had been plotting to get rid of Emperor Hongzhi. In the end, it was Emperor Chenghua's biological mother, Empress Dowager Zhou, who brought Emperor Hongzhi to her palace to raise him. She was very wary of the vicious woman, and he finally grew up safely.

However, because of these palace fighting experiences in his early years, Emperor Hongzhi developed a cowardly and soft-hearted character, and Zhu Youji knew this very well.

His third brother was famous for being soft-hearted, and later facts proved that this was also widely used by civil officials and gentry.

The so-called sage kings of the restoration were just sage kings of civil officials and gentry.

However, the Zhengde Emperor in front of him was different.

He had the emperor's own ideas, as well as the courage and courage that Emperor Hongzhi did not have, and the peerless general Zhongshan Hou.

Therefore, Zhu Youji was also very optimistic about Zhu Houzhao. His Majesty seemed to be able to complete the great cause that Emperor Hongzhi had not completed...Revitalize the Ming Dynasty!

Tang Hao spoke and described the third step of the plan.

However, this third step made Zhu Youji's scalp numb.

The first step was to use the opportunity to regain power to exchange interests with the royal family and vassal kings.

The second step was to announce the new system of royal family and vassal kings after reaching an agreement, and delegate the power to restrain the royal family to the main veins of each vassal system.

The third step is to check the royal manor and royal land!

The manor and land occupied by the emperor are called imperial manor.

The manor and land occupied and annexed by the vassal kings are called royal manor.

Why did Tang Hao propose to check the royal manor?

Of course, it is to curb land annexation!

The name of "imperial manor" began with Emperor Chenghua Zhu Jianshen.

In the eighth year of Tianshun, Zhu Jianshen confiscated the land of eunuch Cao Jixiang in Shunyi and set it up as "imperial manor".

However, the appearance of imperial manor in the Ming Dynasty may be earlier. For example, Emperor Renzong Zhu Gaochi had Renshou Palace Manor and Qingning Weiyang Palace Manor, and Emperor Yingzong Zhu Qizhen set up Donggong, Dewang and Xiuwang manor for his sons.

Zhu Jianshen's approach undoubtedly made the establishment of imperial manor legitimate, thus bringing the trend of the royal family's land grabbing to a climax.

However, the imperial manor is not just the manor of the emperor alone, but includes the manor of the emperor himself, his concubines, the crown prince and the kings in Beijing, that is, the manor of the emperor and his wife and sons.

Therefore, if the prince left Beijing for his fief after being enfeoffed, the land he obtained in the fief was no longer considered an imperial farm, but a royal farm.

Zhu Jianshen's imperial farms soon spread to Shunyi, Baodi, Fengrun, Xincheng, Xiongxian and other places. By the second year of Hongzhi, there were five imperial farms in the capital, covering more than 13,000 mu.

Zhu Houzhao also did these bad things at the beginning of his reign, and was scolded by the ministers. Finally, he followed Tang Hao's advice to abolish the imperial farm to protect the eight eunuchs. Unexpectedly, Liu Jin used this incident to whip the civil officials and gentry who reached out to it.

The emperor took the lead in annexing land, and the princes, nobles, and eunuchs also asked the emperor to grant land, so there were royal fields and official farms.

The most surprising thing about Emperor Hongzhi was that he not only did not stop these powerful royal relatives from annexing land, but also gave them whatever they wanted. As long as they opened their mouths, he, the holy monarch, would be satisfied immediately.

In February of the 16th year of Hongzhi, Zhang Yanling, the Marquis of Jianchang, was granted 751 hectares of farmland, and the lands resigned by two princes of Rujing were also given to him.

In April of the 17th year of Hongzhi, in a dispute over farmland between nobles, Emperor Xiaozong of the Ming Dynasty sided with his brother-in-law, resulting in Zhang Yanling obtaining 16,705 hectares of land at one time.

Even the Chongzhen Palace, the ancestral temple built by Emperor Hongzhi for Empress Zhang's family, had to be specially allocated land for worship, with the two allocations of 70 hectares and 50 mu and 24 hectares respectively.

In addition to his brother-in-law, the Zhang family, Emperor Hongzhi basically accepted all requests for important land from princes and dignitaries.

In March of the 3rd year of Hongzhi, 215 hectares of farmland in Sanhe County were granted to Princess Renhe.

In April of the 3rd year of Hongzhi, 225 hectares of farmland in Shuntian Gu'an, the Earl of Rui'an, was granted by Wang Yuan, the Earl of Rui'an.

In September of the 3rd year of Hongzhi, 160 hectares of farmland in Raoyang County were granted to Princess Chun'an.

In September of the third year of Hongzhi, the Princess of Shunyi of Xiufu was granted 27 hectares of farmland in Yongqing County.

In the first month of the fourth year of Hongzhi, the Prince of Qi Youfu was granted 575 hectares of land in Xin'an Town, Yongqing County.

In April of the fourth year of Hongzhi, the Prince of Qi Liu Wu was granted 90 hectares of camp.

In May of the fourth year of Hongzhi, the eunuch Lu Kai, the supervisor of the Maoling Shrine, was granted 172 hectares of land in Dingxing County.

In February of the fifth year of Hongzhi, the Prince of Yi was granted 200 hectares of land in Wangjuntai.

In September of the fifth year of Hongzhi, the Princess of Shunyi of Xiufu was granted 27 hectares of land in Dong'an County.

In May of the sixth year of Hongzhi, Fengrun County and 500 hectares of farmland in Nandengshe were granted to the Prince of Heng Guanye.

In February of the seventh year of Hongzhi, the Grand Princess of Chongqing was granted 13 hectares of land in Tongzhou.

In April of the seventh year of Hongzhi, another 150 hectares of land was granted to the Prince of Heng.

In March of the eighth year of Hongzhi, the Princess of Shunyi was granted 31 hectares of farmland in Dong'an County.

In September of the ninth year of Hongzhi, the Prince of Ru was granted 700 hectares of farmland in Wangjuntai, Yutian County.

In October of the ninth year of Hongzhi, the Duke of Qi was granted 300 hectares of land in Guantandian, De'an Prefecture.

In November of the tenth year of Hongzhi, the Duke of Deqing was granted 474 hectares and 55 mu of land in Jizhou.

In February of the eleventh year of Hongzhi, the Duke of Heng was granted 1,000 hectares of land in Pingdu Prefecture and two counties of Changyi and Shouguang.

In March of the eleventh year of Hongzhi, the Duke of Deqing was granted 130 hectares of land in Hengshui County.

In June of the eleventh year of Hongzhi, the Duke of Qi was granted 300 hectares of land in De'an Prefecture.

In June of the twelfth year of Hongzhi, the Duke of Rong was granted 500 hectares of land in Fengrun County.

In January of the thirteenth year of Hongzhi, the Duke of Shou was granted 430 hectares of land in Baoning Prefecture, Sichuan.

In February of the thirteenth year of Hongzhi, the Duke of Xing was granted more than 1,350 hectares of silted land near the lake in Jingshan County, Huguang.

In July of the thirteenth year of Hongzhi, the Duke of Qi was granted 612 hectares of land in De'an Prefecture.

In March of the fifteenth year of Hongzhi, the Duke of Heng Youji was granted 1,214 hectares of land in Weixian County, Shouguang, Shandong.

...

So, why did Emperor Hongzhi become the "holy ruler of the restoration"?

Because he made all the nobles happy and satisfied all the gentry, except for his people who should bear the most responsibility, this "Zhongxing Saint King" had forgotten the ordinary and only indulged in the treatment of him by the powerful gentry. In the midst of singing praises!

Bullshit Zhongxing Shengjun!

Looking at the detailed records listed by Tang Hao.

No matter how much Zhu Houzhao respected his father, he was speechless at this moment.

How many fields did the Ming Dynasty have and how many people were there?

Why don't you reward all these fields?

What are the people doing farming? They can just wait to die!

Zhu Houzhao's face turned pale and his eyes began to turn red.

This was a mistake made by his father, and it should be made up for by his son.

"check!"

"Wangzhuang must be investigated!"

"All the farmland under the vassal king's name that exceeds the quota must be inventoried!"

Hearing this, Zhu Youqian couldn't help but frown.

"Your Majesty, the Tian family has just received the support of the clan. If we backhand and stab the clan at this moment, I'm afraid these clan kings will... become resentful!"

Zhu Youyi is certainly qualified to say this, because he has never annexed any land in his fiefdom of Anlu Prefecture, and there is no such thing as Wangzhuang. He lives honestly on the salary from the court.

But just because he keeps himself clean does not mean that other feudal kings are like this.

Judging from the evidence provided by Tang Hao, the Marquis of Zhongshan, each of these vassal kings was more ruthless than the last.

For example, the Prince of Shu's Mansion occupies 70% of the land in the Chengdu Plain. Add in the land annexed by these gentry and gentry, and in the end, less than half of the land fell into the hands of the common people!

Sichuan and Shu are known as the land of abundance!

With millions of people!

Half-grown fields!

What did the court use to collect taxes?

What do people do to support their families?

In addition to becoming the tenants of these powerful and wealthy gentry, they were forced to flee and become refugees!

Another example is the Prince's Mansion of the Chu vassal. There were many farmlands spread across Huguang, and a large number of them were civilian fields that had been purchased and occupied.

"The fields in Jiangxia, Xianning, Wuchang, Chongyang, Tongcheng, Hanyang, Hanchuan, Jinling, Anlu, Yunmeng, Yingcheng, and Xiaogan in Hubei were formerly Chu leased and renamed fields. They were the property of the Ming dynasty. The land was all barren. It was unbearable. It was a barren land for the people and was allocated to the Chu vassal. It was only used for feeding and grazing, and it was called goose and duck field."

It was obviously some fertile land, but it became what the king of Chu called "barren land for the people" and became a "goose and duck field" that they used to make profits for their feeding needs.

The many names and ruthless methods used by these vassal kings to invade the fields are simply jaw-dropping and truly heart-rending!

However, as far as the current situation is concerned, the clan lord has just reached a benefit cooperation with the imperial family Tianjia. If this third step is taken at this moment, I am afraid that the original cooperative relationship between the two parties will be shattered in an instant.

Zhu Houzhao naturally understood this truth, but he couldn't bear it anymore.

Why can't the imperial court collect taxes?

Why are the people in the world so destitute and their wealth exhausted, and the army and the people so miserable?

All these fields have been occupied by the powerful gentry. What can the court use to collect taxes, and what can the people use to make themselves rich?

Every one of them is a cancer!

"Savage, what can you do?"

Zhu Houzhao looked at Tang Hao with red eyes.

He is so angry that he wants to kill someone!

Tang Hao touched his chin and replied: "What His Highness Prince Xing said is also true."

"The two sides have just reached a cooperation. It is really not easy to directly proceed to the third step and stab these feudal kings."

"We need a reasonable excuse, an excuse that leaves these feudal lords speechless, and then we take the opportunity to start a comprehensive purge."

"Excuse?" Zhu Houzhao asked impatiently: "What other excuse can there be? Why don't we force Zhu Chenhao to rebel now? Using this excuse, we will first cut off the Ning Fan lineage, and then launch a comprehensive purge..."

Zhu Youqi was frightened when he heard this. He opened his mouth several times to say something, but finally chose to keep his mouth shut.

Of course he was well aware of the grievances between Ning Fan's line and Tianjia's line.

Now that Ning Fan has such a Zhu Chenhao, it is really bad luck for eight lifetimes, and Ning Fan is destined to be abolished because of this.

It's just that His Majesty's approach will inevitably make Zhu Youqi feel sad. After all, he is also a member of the clan king!

Tang Hao noticed Zhu Youqian's ugly face, coughed slightly and shook his head.

"inappropriate."

"Zhu Chenhao has just become the Minister of Guanglu Temple. It is not a good thing to change his order overnight."

"This matter needs to be considered in the long term, there is no need to rush..."

However, at this moment, Xiong Xiu, the left minister of the Ministry of War, rushed in with a pale face.

"His Majesty!"

"Emergency military situation!"

"Zhu Chixiu, the Anhua king of the Qing dynasty, rebelled in Qingyang, his fiefdom. He burned the government offices and documents, released prisoners, and looted the treasury..."

Xiong Xiu turned pale with anxiety, and cold sweat broke out on his forehead.

But he was surprised to find that the four people in the hall looked at each other, and then burst into laughter in unison.

Um?

What does this mean?

You are so angry that you are laughing, are you mad?

Xiong Xiuren was dumbfounded and looked at Emperor Zhu Houzhao blankly.

This is a fucking clan rebellion, not some cats and dogs!

Can you show some respect?

Clan rebellion itself is the most feared thing by the imperial court, because if it is not handled well, it will turn into a battle of peace again!

The lessons learned from the Battle of Jingnan are right in front of us, and no one dares to take them lightly.

As a result, His Majesty the Emperor Zhu Houzhao couldn't stop laughing, and even burst into tears.

"Ahem...that Xiong Aiqing, what did you just say?"

"Is Zhu Chixiu, King of Anhua of Qingfan, really rebelling?"

Is it the other way around...?

Xiong Xiu looked at His Majesty the Emperor with suspicion.

Why do you feel so excited?

"Your Majesty, Zhu Zhixiu did rebel. He not only killed a group of guarding eunuchs and local officials, but also burned government offices and documents, released prisoners, and robbed treasury..."

"Okay!" Zhu Houzhao jumped up with joy!

"It's such a good opposite!"

Xiong Xiu: "???"

ah?

ah? ? ?

Did I hear wrongly?

Or is His Majesty the Emperor completely mad?

For a moment, Shirong Xiong had some doubts about life.