Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 136: Title and Ancestral Temple

Wang Tiqian was a little surprised. He didn't know why the emperor suddenly wanted to change the official title to a noble title.

Immediately, he was delighted, because the emperor discussed these plans with himself, which showed his trust in himself.

So after thinking for a while, he said:

"If the title can be hereditary and you can manage people like a secular official, you will definitely be recognized more than a secular official."

"The reason why Ni Xian refused to leave was because he wanted to keep his nephew's title, and even thought about converting it to the title of Shuntian."

"The Shuntian nobles on the grassland have titles, titles, territory, and people. Although they don't have the same blessings as the Fengtian nobles in the capital, they are still on par."

"Some literati regard Shuntian nobles as chieftains, but most people are jealous of them."

"After all, once you have a title, you will become a knight from now on, which is completely different from a hereditary military attaché."

Listening to Wang Tiqian's answer, Zhu Youjian had the answer in his mind and decided to change the overseas health official's title to a hereditary title:
"Wen Yin's military position was originally used as a low-level title. Civilians will definitely not object to changing it to a title."

"We will try it overseas first. If the effect is good, we will change the Jinwu Wei Shiguan. This will prevent them from having difficulty in arranging official positions because of their rank."

"Perhaps the future officials of the health department can also change in this way."

It was a real headache for the Ming Dynasty's defense. Although Zhu Youjian didn't want to touch this big thunder, he had to face this problem under the high military expenditure.

Although the guard station is the foundation of the Ming Dynasty's military, this foundation was unstable two hundred years ago, and now it has to be changed.

The Ming Dynasty could not maintain both garrison and recruiting troops. Such a burden would be too great, and it would be impossible to sustain it.

What Zhu Youjian envied most was the Wei system in the early days of the Kingdom, which "raised millions of soldiers without costing the people a grain of rice."

Unfortunately, after the abolition of the Kaichu Law, the frontier army could not be self-sufficient and had to rely on government funding.

Today's Jiubian expenditures largely depend on the imperial court. If the court does not allocate funds, they may become rebels.

This made Zhu Youjian feel: All the ministers who abolished the Kaizhong Law should be killed!

The system of Kaizhongfa originally used the high profits from the salt industry to support the border troops.

After the abolition of the Kaizhong Law, the salt tax was high in the first few years, but it was quickly reduced. The problem of tax evasion will be difficult to solve in future generations, let alone this era.

Then the burden of the border troops fell on the Ming court. The source of Jiubian's millions of unpaid wages comes from this——

If according to the system established by Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, Jiubian would not need to pay wages at all, let alone any arrears of wages.

This realization made Zhu Youjian make up his mind to find ways to increase the salt tax in the future. The burden of border troops should be borne by the salt industry!

We will talk about the salt tax later. Zhu Youjian is now considering reforming the title to prepare for future changes to the guard system. He planned to try it out overseas first, and discussed with Wang Tiqian:

"I plan to add three more hereditary titles: hereditary viscount, hereditary baron, and hereditary knight."

"Viscounts and barons are divided into first, second and third levels, and knights are divided into ordinary knights and high knights. There are eight levels in total."

"The ninth-level official corresponding to the seven grades will be changed to the corresponding title."

Another example is the hereditary commander conferred on Wang Tiqian’s younger brother and nephew:
"The hereditary command colleagues are changed to hereditary viscounts and second-class sons, and they are promoted and demoted within the scope of viscount."

"If there is no merit, the next generation will be reduced to the third class, but it will not be reduced to a baron."

"If you have meritorious service, you can be promoted to a second-class scholar, a first-class scholar, or even a posthumous earl with corresponding titles."

Zhu Youjian had no intention of giving titles such as Viscount Baron. When he canonized the Shuntian nobles before, he was too lazy to give titles to those low-level nobles.

Moreover, the Ming Dynasty had 493 guards, 2,593 guard posts, and 315 guard posts for thousands of households. Most of the guards' officers are hereditary, and there is not a one-to-one correspondence, and they are far beyond the establishment.

For example, there are eighteen commanding schools in Weihaiwei, which far exceeds the number of one commander, two commanders, and four commanders.

All of these people were turned into viscounts. It would be difficult to draft so many titles, and the number would be too large to remember.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian is directly called the first, second, and third-class sons. Only the viscounts who posthumously gifted the earl can have the title of title - their descendants can title the posthumous earl in front of the viscount.

This approach led to a clear distinction between the princes and the princes. One was a low-level nobleman without a title, and the other was a high-level nobleman with a title. Their statuses were completely different.

Not knowing the consequences of doing so, Wang Tiqian felt that it was feasible after Zhu Youjian proposed this idea. It would be better if he could be allowed to wear viscount clothes and viscount hairpin——

After Wei Liangqing was granted the title of Jin, Wei Zhongxian immediately put on the prince's hairpin and ranked ahead of Wang Tiqian.

It was only after the current emperor ascended the throne that Wei Zhongxian did not dare to be too ostentatious, so he did not continue to wear the hairpin.

Thinking of Wei Zhongxian's previous affairs, Wang Tiqian put forward this suggestion euphemistically. Zhu Youjian laughed and said to him immediately:

"Your brother and nephew got their titles because of you. If they can wear hairpins, you can do the same."

"This will be the rule for ministers from now on. You can wear whatever clothes your younger brother or nephew has."

Zhu Youjian has always been very generous about things like this that can increase people's enthusiasm without spending much money. Eunuchs who have younger brothers and nephews who take the title are allowed to wear corresponding clothes.

Wang Tiqian was overjoyed and immediately expressed his willingness to replace the hereditary commander Tongzhi with a hereditary viscount or second-class son.

Although the second-class son may be demoted to the third-class son in the future, which is equivalent to being demoted from a commanding colleague to a commanding official, Wang Tiqian does not care, knowing that the hereditary viscount will not be demoted, and wealth can be guaranteed.

And for him, being able to wear the viscount's clothes is a big deal, why should he care whether his brother-nephew will be a second-class son or a third-class son in the future.

Among internal officials, only Liu Yongcheng, the imperial eunuch of the Chenghua period, had outstanding military merits. His nephew also had military merits and was specially named Ning Jinbo, which was passed down from generation to generation.

If his brother-nephew could be made a viscount, Wang Tiqian felt that he had nothing else to seek in this life.

If he had known before that there would be such a big reward for donating his property, Wang Tiqian would never have been entangled.

Millions of wealth is nothing, it will not be taken to the ground after death. Being able to hold a title and be distinguished in front of others is what he cares about more.

And that's not all, Zhu Youjian also thought about his treatment after death, and continued:

"For those who are knighted by the younger brother or nephew of an internal official, the title can be given posthumously after death and included in the ancestral temple of the younger brother or nephew's title."

"If the merit is great, you can be awarded a higher title."

"Wang Qing, you have to work hard in the future. Whether you can be awarded a higher-level title depends on your future performance."

Encourage the king's body to do things, and he can posthumously give it to the earl.

Wang Tiqian was a little surprised and couldn't even believe it:

Included in the ancestral temple?

Can a eunuch like him enter the ancestral temple?

Instinctively, Wang Tiqian thought that words like ancestral temple were a bit taboo, and Wang Tiqian thought of the saying about the five temples of princes.

Thinking of the five temples built by lords and princes from various places, Wang Tiqian knew that the emperor treated the viscount as a prince.

The princes can naturally build five temples. If the emperor allows him to enter the temple, can his brother-nephew, who got the title because of him, refuse this order?

Wang Tiqian's heart was pounding, and for the first time he felt that he should work harder to build a career and obtain a higher title.

　"History of the Ming Dynasty": Kingdom Ancestral Temple
　　In the fourth year of Hongwu, Tao Kai, the Minister of Rites, and others agreed that within the palace walls of the Kingdom, the ancestral temple should be on the left and Sheji on the right. In the temple system, the hall has five rooms, and the sleeping hall has three doors. …

　　In the eighth year of Jiajing's reign, King Chongyao of Qin said: "On behalf of King Yi, I have been serving as a temple. Since it was first established, there have been more than five temples. Please decide on the system of the temple."

　　The ceremony minister said: "The ancient system of temples for princes has not been heard of before. It is better to surrender and kill them according to the ritual of the Taimiao Temple. They will not move for a hundred generations. In the following four generations, they will be all relatives and worshipers. But the princes have no temples, so they have no temples." It is advisable for the Lord to place a coffin and hide it in the room of the ancestor, and at the end of every year, the Lord will come out to offer sacrifices together."

　　The edict is as agreed.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)