Daming: I can’t kill such a greedy prince-in-law?

Chapter 612: Whether to give the fiefdom or not, Zhu Yuanzhang’s selfishness (Please subscribe!!)

Of course, Ouyang Lun would not ask so directly. Even though there were only three of them in the entire Taiji Hall, it would still be easy for Zhu Yuanzhang to lose face. Zhu Yuanzhang was famous for his narrow-mindedness. It was really unwise to make Zhu Yuanzhang "hold a grudge" against him just because of one sentence!
Of course, Ouyang Lun had used words to provoke Zhu Yuanzhang many times in the past.

"Your Majesty, if you haven't thought of what to ask me, or what you want to discuss with me, you can wait until you have thought of it before calling me."

"After all, it's a bit awkward for us to just stand like this!"

Ouyang Lun spread his hands and said calmly.

"Ouyang Lun, let me ask you, was it you who gave Zhu Di and his men the idea to lead their troops to occupy the grasslands?"

Zhu Yuanzhang asked in a deep voice.

Um! ?

When Ouyang Lun heard Zhu Yuanzhang ask this question, he immediately realized that Zhu Yuanzhang called him back because of this matter!
No wonder he never spoke!

"Your Majesty, from what you said, it seems that you are not very willing to fulfill your promise!"

"Retired Emperor, we are not saying this to you! You are an old man, so please stop being so petty, okay? The Prince of Yan and his men are all descendants of your Zhu family. They conquered the territory on their own, shouldn't you be very happy?!"

"This is the true way to carry forward the Zhu family!"

"Look, among the landlords in the Ming Dynasty, after the eldest son gets the largest share of the family property, how many of the other sons can achieve great success? Very few. But this time, the nine sons of your Zhu family have expanded the territory together and directly added a province to the Ming Dynasty. This is absolutely a great thing!"

"Don't you want to take this land back from your son? You are such a stingy father!"

When Ouyang Lun heard Zhu Yuanzhang ask that question, he guessed what Zhu Yuanzhang was thinking.

This also explains why Zhu Yuanzhang was not too happy but instead looked gloomy when he heard that the nine vassal kings occupied a large area of ​​territory during the court meeting just now.

Ouyang Lun was a little puzzled at the time, but now everything has a traceable basis!

Originally Zhu Yuanzhang was still a little reserved, but after Ouyang Lun's words made it clear, he became relaxed and stopped pretending at all.

"Ahem, we are naturally considering the Ming Dynasty as a whole. Although the territory of the Ming Dynasty is large enough, the grasslands in the north have always been a problem. The nomadic tribes on the grasslands want to go south to the Central Plains all the time. This is not only the case for our Ming Dynasty, but also for all dynasties. Qin Shihuang built the Great Wall to prevent this!"

"Of course, we also want to solve this problem for our Ming Dynasty. Moreover, we want to completely incorporate the grassland into the territory of the Ming Dynasty. How can we not want such a great achievement of expanding our territory?!"

What Zhu Yuanzhang said was quite direct!

In fact, Zhu Yuanzhang himself was quite conflicted about this matter. On one hand, there was his son, and on the other hand, there was his achievement of expanding territory and completely solving the border problems in the northern border!

When Ouyang Lun heard what Zhu Yuanzhang said, he rolled his eyes.

"The Emperor, you are so confused!"

Forehead.
Hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang's mouth twitched, and he looked at Ouyang Lun unhappily, "Confused? How am I confused? Ouyang Lun, you must explain it to me clearly today. If you can't explain it clearly, I will definitely not let you down!"

"Your Majesty, I have plenty of good fruits myself, I don't need you to give them to me!"

"." Zhu Yuanzhang almost fainted from anger when he heard this.

"If we give all the territories occupied by the Prince of Yan to them, then won't the Emperor and I only be able to be rulers who maintain the status quo? If this is confirmed, how will the people of the world view us and the Emperor?"

"Ouyang Lun, have you ever thought about this?"

Zhu Yuanzhang said in a deep voice.

"From what Your Majesty said, are you going to overturn the rules you set in the first place?"

Ouyang Lun spread his hands.

Forehead.
Ouyang Lun's rhetorical question left Zhu Yuanzhang speechless.

Zhu Biao saw that Ouyang Lun and Zhu Yuanzhang seemed to be on the verge of a breakdown in their talks, so he quickly said, "Father, I think Brother-in-law Ouyang makes more sense. In recent years, because of the new feudal system, my brothers have become more active. The Prince of Yan, the Prince of Ning, and the Prince of Jin have worked harder every year, and they treat the people in the feudal areas very well. The economy of the feudal areas has developed rapidly!"

"The court has also gained a lot of benefits from this. On the one hand, the management pressure has been reduced. The foreign lands are governed by the princes with all their strength, and the court only needs to play a supervisory role. Every year, the court can take almost 70% of the taxes from the fiefdoms, and most of the remaining taxes are used for the development of the fiefdoms themselves. The princes only get 1%, but it is enough for their daily expenses, and the court does not need to spend extra money. According to Brother-in-law Ouyang, the princes are senior officials invited by the court!"

"The imperial court truly controls the economy, military, and politics of the Fandi, and the vassal kings have the power of daily management. There is no need to worry about the vassal kings rebelling. If my father overthrows the vassal king system at this time, it will probably cause a greater impact!"

Zhu Biao is now the emperor, and he is in charge of the daily affairs of the Ming Dynasty, so he is quite familiar with the current vassal system. Moreover, Zhu Biao has been studying with Ouyang Lun for so long, and he is more receptive to the new management model through osmosis!

Therefore, the benefits of this are naturally quite clear, and the impact that would be brought about if Zhu Yuanzhang denied the vassal system is also quite clear.

As the eldest brother, Zhu Biao knew his younger brothers, Zhu Di, Zhu Quan and others, better than Zhu Yuanzhang. You should know that Zhu Yuanzhang was fighting on the front lines in the past and had no time to take care of his children. As the eldest brother, Zhu Biao often took on the responsibility of taking care of his younger brothers and sisters, as well as the responsibility of educating them. There was no problem for Zhu Di, Zhu Quan and other princes to call Zhu Biao "little dad"!

Therefore, as an elder who is both a father and a brother, Zhu Biao also hopes that his younger brothers can have a territory to display their talents.

As Zhu Biao said this, Ouyang Lun smiled and said, "Look, Your Majesty, His Majesty has finally realized the truth!"

Forehead.
Zhu Yuanzhang was speechless. He didn't expect that even his son was on Ouyang's side. Was his idea wrong?

"Hmph!" Zhu Yuanzhang snorted coldly, obviously not convinced.

Seeing this, Ouyang Lun smiled and said, "Father-in-law, the Grand Emperor, I am not talking nonsense in front of you, but I think that the current situation is the best! It is beneficial to the Ming Dynasty, the Grand Emperor, and Your Majesty!"

"In recent years, due to the new feudal system, not only the feudal lords guarding the border, but also other feudal lords who have been granted titles have actively participated in the management of their fiefs. This has directly accelerated the development of the Ming Dynasty!"

"Yan Wang Zhu Di, Ning Wang Zhu Quan and other nine princes guarding the border are not stupid. They work hard to manage the foreign lands, one to prove themselves, the other for money! You should know that their income is proportional to the tax revenue of their fiefdoms. The higher the tax revenue of their fiefdoms, the more money they will get!"

"So it's only natural for them to want to expand their fiefdoms. They never had the chance before, but the imperial court's expedition against the Northern Yuan Dynasty gave them this opportunity, so they waited a long time before taking action!"

"To be honest, the combined forces of the nine princes are as high as 400,000 or 500,000. They can definitely fight the main force of the Northern Yuan army head-on. Especially after the Northern Yuan army was repelled by Lan Yu's army, they can continue to penetrate the Northern Yuan and occupy more vast lands in order to test the true identity of the imperial court, that is, the emperor and the emperor!"

"Yan Wang Zhu Di and Ning Wang Zhu Quan naturally hope that the court will agree to their request, so that they can pursue the development and expansion of their own fiefdoms!"

"Of course, if the Emperor's father-in-law and the Emperor's brother-in-law directly reject the Nine Princes' request, they will definitely not reject it, but..." Ouyang Lun looked at Zhu Yuanzhang, "I have to remind the Emperor and His Majesty that the Nine Princes are now strong in military strength. Although the court has the highest control over the army, if the court goes too far, then everything will be uncertain."

"When the Emperor's father-in-law and the Emperor's eldest brother-in-law are here, naturally no one dares to mess around. But if you two, cough cough, I'm not cursing you, but this is something you have to consider."

"Isn't that what we said wrong?"

Ouyang Lun's words were like a tsunami, making Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao, father and son, look even more serious.

Although the new vassal system gave the imperial court a strong control over the fiefdoms, all of this was based on correct management. If the imperial court did not cause any trouble, everything would be peaceful. But if the imperial court made frequent stupid moves, then these vassal kings would have some ideas.

By then, the situation in the Ming Dynasty will change rapidly!
Zhu Yuanzhang was extremely helpless about this, and said in a deep voice: "I have to admit that what you said, Ouyang Lun, does make some sense, but I don't believe it. Even if I really grant them these territories, will they really establish a feudal state?"

Seeing that Zhu Yuanzhang was not giving in, Ouyang Lun also smiled.

Sure enough, this man becomes more stubborn as he gets older.

Ouyang Lun was quite helpless about Zhu Yuanzhang's stubbornness. "Father-in-law, the words I just said were my suggestions. The final decision is in your hands!"

"Besides, this is a matter between you, your father and son, your brother and your younger brother. If these princes cause trouble in the future, they will target their nephews, that is, your sons and grandsons. Even if I am still here, they will not do anything to me."

"Why should I worry about this?"

Ouyang Lun spread his hands, looking indifferent.

Lao Zhu, just pretend, why do you have to be so stubborn?
Of course, no matter which method you choose, we won’t really stop you. After all, this time no one will be trying to purge the emperor’s court with their own goal!

Even if chaos really happened, the knife would not fall on Ouyang Lun's head.

Hearing Ouyang Lun's remarks, Zhu Biao, who was standing next to him, was also shocked.

He also hoped that Ouyang Lun would have a good chat with his father Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang, but he didn't expect that as soon as it started, the two became hostile again.

Come to think of it, what Ouyang Lun said was still very accurate. You should know that the princes of the Ming Dynasty basically learned from Ouyang Lun, and many of them had opinions about Ouyang Lun in the past. However, after accepting Ouyang Lun's education and the new prince system began to be implemented, there was no prince of the Ming Dynasty who was disrespectful to Ouyang Lun. Anyone who was not well-behaved would call him brother-in-law or brother-in-law!
Even if these princes cause chaos, no one will take the initiative to attack Ouyang Lun. On the one hand, it is because Ouyang Lun has been kind to them, and on the other hand, it is because of Ouyang Lun's ability. If the Ming Dynasty wants to develop well, it cannot do without Ouyang Lun. Of course, the most important point is that the people of the Ming Dynasty recognize Ouyang Lun. In the eyes of the people of the Ming Dynasty, Ouyang Lun is a good official who can make the people of the Ming Dynasty live a good life. Killing Ouyang Lun would ruin their good life!
Naturally, the people won’t do that!

Without the support of the people, how could that prince succeed?!

Therefore, Ouyang Lun had the conditions to just sit back and watch, and wait for the prince to successfully start his own business, and then follow suit. It would not have much impact.

After hearing this, Zhu Biao stopped talking.

After hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang started to curse, "Ouyang Lun, why didn't I see that you are such a sinister person before! You deliberately want the children of my Zhu family to kill each other!"

"We handed you over to you so that you can solve the problem, not so that you can talk and make us angry!"

Ouyang Lun shrugged, "The solution is simple! Just follow the new feudal system. The territories were conquered by the nine feudal lords themselves, so we divide them among them and let them manage it themselves. We just sit back and wait to collect the money. This is called an angel investor!"

"I don't care what the hell you say. If we open the door to investors, the princes will fight over this and that. Should we give them all the titles? That would be a mess!"

"Even if you want us to get the emperor's approval, can you please come up with a reliable plan?"

Zhu Yuanzhang said unhappily.

After hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang felt a little relieved.

Zhu Yuanzhang actually had selfish motives regarding the vassal system. As the founding emperor, he had conquered such a vast territory, so what was wrong with learning from the Zhou King in enfeoffing the princes? What's more, these were all his own sons, his own blood!

This can also prevent the Zhu family from being wiped out if Zhu Biao's lineage declines! This can also be regarded as an arrangement for his other sons as a father.

However, having too many vassal kings was not a good thing for Emperor Zhu Biao. It was not so bad if there were too many vassal kings in Zhu Biao's generation. After all, all the vassal kings respected Zhu Biao as their big brother. As long as Zhu Biao was there, no vassal king would have the heart of rebellion!

But when Zhu Biao also went there and became the third emperor of the Ming Dynasty, the princes would likely become a problem that would be difficult to get rid of.

Zhu Yuanzhang had already noticed this problem in the history of successive dynasties.

But Zhu Yuanzhang still did it, this is his selfishness
Zhu Yuanzhang originally wanted to leave this issue to Zhu Biao or future emperors to solve. After all, the throne still belonged to the Zhu family.
(End of this chapter)