Daming Crazy Emperor

Chapter 206

Taichang sat there with a livid face and turned around for a while, then raised his head and said majestically: "What do you think about the suzerain vassal issue?"

All the trusted officials were dumbfounded when they heard the words.

Didn't the emperor summon everyone to discuss how to wipe out the rebels? Why is it a question of the suzerain right now?

To be honest, the issue of the suzerain vassal was raised in both the Jiajing and Wanli dynasties.

Nothing good happened to those mentioned, though.

There is no way, the vassals are all relatives of the royal family, if you persuade the emperor to clean up his relatives, wouldn't it be nothing to do?
Everyone knew in their hearts that even if the suzerain vassal continued to expand without limit, the Ming Dynasty would be overwhelmed sooner or later.

However, the matter of cutting down the feudal clan cannot be mentioned.

Chengzu's lineage was in trouble because of the cutting of the feudal clan, and thus seized the country. Are you telling others to cut the feudal clan?

Besides, even if it is an emperor, cutting the feudal clan seems to have no good end, for example, the only Emperor Jianwen in the history of Ming Dynasty who clearly proposed to cut the feudal clan.

Everyone knows what the result of Emperor Jianwen is, and he cut himself off even if he cut down the feudal clan!

These vassal kings are not good at messing with others, but they are still very powerful when messing with their own people. They can't afford to mess with them!

Minister of Rites Zou Weilian frowned and thought for a while, and then said cautiously: "Your Majesty, I dare you, we can follow the example of the late Emperor Sejong and reduce the vassal's salary appropriately, which has eased the pressure on the court."

Does this work?

Can the speed at which you reduce Lumi keep up with the speed at which people give birth to offspring?
Besides, no matter how you reduce it, you can't make people starve to death.

For a family of ten or even dozens of people, if you give one person’s Lumi, how will the others live?
Which of these royal family members is not a group of wives and concubines, and a group of servants!
If the reduction of Lumi can solve the problem of suzerain and vassal, the problem will not develop to such a serious level.

Hearing this, Taichang couldn't help frowning and said: "Reducing the vassal Lumi can only cure the root cause, not the root cause. If they can't rely on themselves, they can't be cut to a certain extent. No matter how much you can reduce the Lumi, you can't cut it until they can't survive. , What will happen if people can no longer survive? In short, it is impossible to reduce Lumi so that people will starve to death, and if the population of suzerains and vassals continues to expand like this, one day there will be no more cuts.”

This is indeed true. It takes at least five shi meters for a person to live for a year. No matter how much you reduce the vassal Lumi, it is impossible to cut it below five shi meters. More than 500 million, and even if all the Lumi of the 500 million vassals were cut to five stones, it would be 500 million stones.

All the taxes and taxes of the entire Ming court did not add up to so much!

In other words, unless the vassals can support themselves, Daming will definitely be crushed by the vassals in less than a hundred years!
The question is, is it possible to let the suzerains support themselves?

These people are used to stretching out their clothes for food and opening their mouths for food. You suddenly don’t give them food, is that okay?

All the trusted ministers dared not speak.

This is the emperor's own business!
Seeing this, Taichang gritted his teeth and said, "It seems that the only solution for the present is to cut down the vassal. I want to take back all the land of the vassal and let them do business to support themselves. What do you think?"

Cutting the feudal clan is indeed the fundamental way to solve the problem.

The problem is, at this juncture, cutting down the feudal clan may cause accidents!
At this moment, Lu Xiangsheng, Minister of the Ministry of War, is not here, and Xu Guangqi, the chief assistant of the cabinet, can only remind him: "Your Majesty, I dare to say that the Northwest is already in chaos at this moment. If we cut down the vassal at this time, I am afraid it will be even more chaotic." !"

Do these princes dare to rebel?

To be honest, it's really possible.

It's like Emperor Jianwen, it's okay not to talk about cutting the feudal clan, but when he mentions cutting the feudal clan, those feudal kings immediately rebelled!

Cutting the vassals is like killing these vassal kings, can they not rebel?

Although the vassal king doesn't have much strength at the moment, he has money and food!

When you don't talk about cutting the feudal clan, they may be honest and dare not use money and food to recruit the army. Once you talk about cutting the feudal clan, will they still sit and wait to die?
If the feudal lord pays money and food again and recruits the victims to rebel, it will be much more terrifying than those rebel leaders who have no money and food.

You know, these vassal kings not only have money and food but also land, and it is not a problem for them to support tens of thousands of rebels with the land in their hands.

Moreover, the descendants of these vassal kings are as numerous as a cow's hair, and it is normal to have tens of thousands of descendants. If they turn against each other, it will be much more terrifying than the current rebels.

Thinking of this, Taichang couldn't help but annoyed: "These feudal lords, I will find a way for them, let them do business and make a lot of money, isn't it okay?"

Uh, Your Majesty, you are the only one who values ​​business!
Xu Guangqi thought for a while, and then said cautiously: "Your Majesty, I have the courage to say one more thing. Scholars, farmers, businessmen, and merchants are the lowest. Do you think the feudal lord would do such a lowly thing?"

Refuse to do business?
Then let these rebels deal with you first, and let you taste the evil results of your own evil.

OK, just wait and see!
Taichang nodded slightly and said: "Well, the timing is really not coincidental, so let's not mention the matter of cutting down the feudal clan for now."

Xu Guangqi hurriedly cupped his hands and said, "The emperor is wise."

Still wise.

This is just an act of desperation, okay?

Taichang then said solemnly: "Pass down my will and order Sun Chuanting to lead his men to guard the front lines of Yunyang Mansion, Tongguan, and Yansui Mansions to prevent the rebels from fleeing back to Shaanxi. Order Cao Wenzhao to lead his men to guard Xuanfu Town and Baoding Mansion and Daming Mansion to prevent rebels from entering the capital. Order Lu Xiangsheng to lead the Shenji Battalion back to Beijing and guard the capital."

Ah!
All the trusted ministers were dumbfounded when they heard the words.

What do you mean, Your Majesty?
Xu Guangqi hurriedly cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, I have the courage to ask, do you care about Shanxi and Henan?"

Anyway, it is all the domain of the vassal kings. Except for the officialdom, it belongs to those vassal kings. Not only did the court not receive a penny of money and taxes, but they also had to send them vassal vassals. Is it necessary for me to send troops to protect them? ?
Taichang said indifferently: "It's not that I don't care. I only have so much money and food, and I can only support so many troops. Could it be that I don't care about the safety of the capital to manage those places?"

This, lack of money and food is indeed a problem.

However, even if it is necessary to guard the safety of the capital, only one of the Shenwu Battalion and the Shenji Battalion would be enough!
The current rebels don't have much equipment, no matter how many there are, they are not enough to stand in front of the Shenwu Camp and the Shenji Camp.

Xu Guangqi thought about it carefully, and soon understood what the emperor meant.

He cupped his hands carefully and said: "Your Majesty, do you mean to let these vassals pay for the money?"

Taichang nodded slightly and said: "Yes, if we want to completely wipe out the rebels, the current number of troops is definitely not enough. The rebels can't beat the Shenji Camp and the Shenwu Camp, but they don't fight against the Shenji Camp and the Shenwu Camp. There is nothing we can do about running around. In other words, if we want to completely wipe out the rebels, we have to surround them from all directions in the west, so that they have nowhere to escape. This requires a lot of people, and now, we simply cannot afford it. The money and food for so many horses!"

What he said is actually a replica of Yang Sichang's strategy of "four positives and six corners, ten sides to spread the net" in history.

At that time, Chongzhen became ruthless in order to support Yang Sichang's strategy, and directly levied three additional taxes, and the annual tax increase exceeded 200 million taels.

The result is that the people are full of resentment, and the anti-thieves are getting more and more prosperous because of this. The common people have no food to eat, and you still levy three or four times more taxes. Isn’t this forcing more common people to rebel? ?
Therefore, Yang Sichang killed himself in the end!
There is nothing wrong with the strategy of "four positives and six corners, ten sides to spread the net".

If you want to wipe out the rebels, you must spread the net on all sides, so that the rebels have nowhere to escape.

However, to implement this strategy, the commander in command must be quite powerful.

Like Lu Xiangsheng and Sun Chuanting, both are fine, but Yang Sichang doesn't know the depth, insists on doing it himself, and even does not hesitate to frame Lu Xiangsheng and Sun Chuanting for this, this is the way to die!
In addition, there is another point, that is, it is not allowed to impose excessive taxes and tax increases, which will cause public dissatisfaction.

Because once the tax is increased, the ordinary people who could not survive would be even more unable to survive. They were forced to rebel with others in desperation!

To do this is to drink poison to quench thirst, and it will only become more and more suppressed, and more and more suppressed.

Therefore, the money for the ten nets cannot be filled by levying three additional rates. It must be paid by the vassal kings of Shanxi and Henan. If they don’t, let the rebels rob them and destroy them , I will send someone to snatch it back!
It’s a bit risky to do this, but it’s okay, as long as you keep an eye on the movements of the rebels, once they rob the feudal king, send the Shenwuying or even the Shenjiying to join them, and it will be fine if they don’t let them grow stronger with the money they robbed .

Of course, if the vassal king is willing to pay, Taichang will also organize nearby guards to guard the vassal king's residence.

In this way, there will be more and more people under his command. As long as the vassal kings of Shanxi and Henan are willing to pay, the force to implement the ten-sided net strategy will be enough, and it will be easy to wipe out the rebels by then.

Now, it depends on whether these princes want money or life!
(End of this chapter)