Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 20: The title of maternal relative
Li Xingzhong's attitude can be imagined as the attitude of other members of the Li family. Even Li Shizhong's eldest son Li Shunzu, who was most qualified to take the title, was not so enthusiastic about the title. Only Li Shizhong's second son Li Zunzu said:

"Let's not talk about my great-grandfather for now. My grandfather made great contributions in Ningxia and North Korea. Later, he died fighting for the country and was posthumously presented to Uncle Ning Yuan."

"Even counting from my grandfather, the Li family should have a title."

Li Xingzhong smiled bitterly when he heard this, and didn't know what to say to this nephew who didn't know the heights of heaven and earth. Li Chengliang and Li Rusong are father and son. How can outsiders distinguish their merits? What's more, the ruling and opposition parties generally hate the Li family, and no one can distinguish this for them.

Li Zunzu was young and vigorous, and said ambitiously:
"If you don't dare, then I'll do it."

"But I should inherit the title I won, and you can't fight for it!"

Uncle Li Xingzhong had nothing to say. Li Shunzu looked at his handsome younger brother, coughed a few times and said:

"Brother, I don't know how long I can live. It's hard to say whether I will have any descendants!"

"If you win the title, I will submit it myself and you will be granted the title of Uncle Ning Yuan."

Li Zunzu got the promise and took action immediately. First, he invited his grandmother, Li Rusong's wife, the Wu family, and then used the name of the Wu family to petition the descendants for inheritance on the grounds that Li Rusong had been posthumously gifted to Uncle Ning Yuan.

When he received the petition, Zhu Youjian was processing the memorial in the palace. When he saw the eunuch Liu Yingkun reporting that Jimen was short of salary for five months, he sighed in his heart, knowing that the financial situation of the Ming Dynasty was not optimistic, but there were many places to spend money. ——

Emperor Tianqi's tomb and the rewards for his ascension are indispensable.

The sudden increase in these two expenditures is really difficult to support given the current situation of the court.

We need to find ways to increase revenue and increase fiscal revenue!

He didn't dare to think about reducing expenditures. Zhu Youjian was afraid that the officials below him would have a wrong brain circuit and come up with magical operations such as abolition of inns. Given the current situation of the Ming Dynasty, once those who rely on finance to make a living lose their jobs, many people will become thieves, which will lead to more leaders who are familiar with the imperial court. Therefore, Zhu Youjian now only dares to put paper on this dilapidated house in Daming, but does not dare to demolish anything.

When he saw the Li family's confession, Zhu Youjian was still worried about money. The first thing he thought about was whether the Li family could make money for himself.

At that time, Li Chengliang did his best to attract businessmen and people in Liaodong, and he was still good at collecting money. Even his title of Ning Yuanbo was obtained by bribing eunuchs and civil servants.

This made him think, should he let the Li family out and let them collect wealth for themselves?
Thinking that Mao Wenlong in Pidao, in addition to relying on court money and food, also relied on commerce to make money, Zhu Youjian felt that this matter was somewhat feasible.

However, the structure of the border army has been fixed, and Zhu Youjian did not dare to rashly release the Li family to usurp their interests. Now let's take the Li family and test the court.

"Send these memorials to the cabinet and let the cabinet vote on them."

"Especially this statement, we will discuss it at the next court meeting and let the ministers come up with their opinions."

Instructing Xu Yingyuan to deliver the documents, Zhu Youjian looked at the newly promoted Wang Wenzheng next to him, and asked a few questions about Xin Wang's palace. When he learned that the princess and others were all well, he praised:
"Thank you for your work in Prince Xin's Mansion!"

"From now on, you will be in charge of everything in the palace."

"Relatives in the palace, is there something wrong?"

Wang Wenzheng heard this and replied:

"My uncle, Mr. Liu, is a member of the Yanghe Wei Zhengqian household. After His Majesty ascended to the throne, he has passed the decree, but he has not yet arrived in Beijing."

"Master Zhou, the abbot of the state, has granted me the command of troops and horses as usual. He is currently in the capital and has sent people to the palace several times."

Zhu Youjian was disgusted when he heard that his father-in-law Zhou Kui was a little restless. Because as far as he knew, Zhou Kui was stingy and greedy for money. There were also rumors that he sacrificed the son of Emperor Chongzhen after the city of Beijing was destroyed. However, he did not end well in the end, as Li Zicheng took away his family property with his salary. This naturally made Zhu Youjian's attitude towards his father-in-law not very good. Thinking that he would have to knight him in the future, Zhu Youjian felt even more uncomfortable and ordered Wang Wenzheng:
"Let the Zhou family be honest and stop causing trouble for me."

Hearing the impatience with the Zhou family from Zhu Youjian's tone, Wang Wenzheng knew what to do. He decided to give the Zhou family a good warning when sending the message, so as not to cause trouble.

Thinking of his relative's ennoblement, Zhu Youjian asked again:

"How did this dynasty's relatives become knighted?"

"What titles are there now?"

Wang Wenzheng was quite familiar with the relatives of distinguished people in Beijing, so he immediately replied after hearing this:

"There were not many titles granted to foreign relatives in this dynasty, and they were changed again during the Jiajing period. Only Wei Guogong, Ding Guogong, Pengcheng Bo, and Hui'an Bo were retained because of their military merits."

"After Jiajing, there were Wuqinghou and Yongnianbo who were canonized by Master Wanli, Yongningbo who was canonized by Taichang Master, Xinchenghou, Bopingbo and Taikangbo who were canonized by the late emperor."

I did some calculations in my mind and found that only two of the marquis and the four uncles were ennobled by their relatives, so the burden was not too heavy. Zhu Youji thought about what Wang Wenzheng said about Jiajing's revolution and asked:
"What happened when my cousin was dismissed from the title during the Jiajing period? Please explain it carefully!"

Wang Wenzheng thought for a moment and replied:

"At that time, Anchang Bo Qian Weiqi died of illness, and his brother-in-law Qian Weiyuan requested a successor. During the ministry meeting, Fang Xianfu, the Minister of Rites, said: 'The title given to a foreign relative is not appropriate for this world.'"

"Zhang Fuking, the first assistant at the time, thought the same thing. Master Jiajing agreed after the court meeting passed and ordered his relatives to be knighted for the rest of their lives and not to be inherited by their descendants."

"Then after the relatives died of illness during the Jiajing period, they were all dismissed from the title as usual, but not granted the title."

Nodding in approval, Zhu Youjian felt that Emperor Jiajing had done the right thing in this matter. Thinking about the issue of ennobling the descendants of heroes, Zhu Youjian felt that Emperor Jiajing was very clear about the title.

Thinking of the titles of his relatives such as Marquis Wu Qing, Zhu Youjian asked again:

"What's going on with the nobility of the relatives of Marquis Wu Qing?"

"How many generations have it been attacked now?"

Wang Wenzheng said:

"When Marquis Wu Qing was granted the title of earl, he gave it posthumously to three generations. When he was promoted to marquis, he was given the title of imperial edict for three generations. Lord Wanli gave it to his heir, so it was passed down."

"Since then, other relatives have also been sealed as usual."

Zhu Youjian frowned when he heard this, knowing that the title system for relatives established by Jiajing had begun to deteriorate again since the Wanli period.

He felt uncomfortable at the thought of giving a hereditary title to someone like Zhou Kui. It's just that he has just become emperor at this time, so it is not appropriate to start a war. In addition, since he has no relatives to seize the title, he has no reason to have an attack.

After finally thinking about it, Zhu Youjian decided to put this matter aside for now. When a relative needs to ascend the throne in the future, he would ask the civil servants to come forward to object and reiterate the old Jiajing system.

　"History of the Ming Dynasty": Jisi (the eighth year of Jiajing), except Qi Shifeng, wrote the order.

　　Anchang Bo Qian Weiqi died, and his concubine brother Weiyuan asked for his successor. (Fang Xianfu) Xianfu said that the title granted to a relative was not of the time, and he cited events from the Han, Tang, and Song Dynasties as evidence. The emperor was good at what he said, and he discussed it with the court, and his relatives became the best in the world.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)