Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

The treatment of Duke Chengguo made everyone realize once again the interests of the current emperor.

Who is the current emperor?

He was a man who ascended the throne at a young age, easily eliminated powerful eunuchs, and tortured the civil servants to the point of wanting to die within the rules set by the civil servants.

Many officials now believe that the current emperor is more powerful than Emperor Jiajing.

At least two years after Emperor Jiajing ascended the throne, he had not yet completely grasped power.

However, the current emperor has already completed the integration of the court and achieved great achievements such as suppressing the She'an Rebellion and gaining the annexation of Ryukyu.

Would such a powerful leader change his mind at their request?
Even if he took the initiative to give up the power to reduce the size of the fiefdoms and move them around, the royal family and nobles would still have to obey his orders.

Otherwise, Duke Chengguo would become an example and be arranged by the emperor to go to a bitter and cold place, where he would have to stay for hundreds of years.

When the princes and crown princes saw the emperor's gaze sweeping over them, they became silent as a mouse, not even daring to make a sound.

At this moment, they all realized that they were facing an emperor with real power and who was capable of being ruthless.

If they don't jump out tactfully, the emperor will make an example of them and relocate them to a cold and bitter place, just like he did to Duke Cheng.

Zhu Youjian did have this idea, expecting some vassal kings to jump out so that he could move to the north of the Greater Khingan Range and Wudehewei.

Unfortunately, these princes have been suppressed by emperors of all dynasties and are afraid of them, so no one is smart enough to jump out.

This forced him to suppress this thought and said:
"Where is Prince Qing?"

“What is the situation in Ningxia this year?”

The princes breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly pushed Prince Qing to the front.

Obviously, they thought the emperor was still angry and wanted to use Prince Qing to calm the emperor's anger.

Prince Qing Zhu Zhuo was so angry that he wanted to curse the other princes for being so disloyal.

Staying in the capital instead of going overseas to establish a fiefdom was clearly the general attitude when they communicated with each other, but they did not expect that they would push themselves out as soon as the emperor questioned them.

Knowing that he could not escape this disaster, he pinched himself and wiped away his tears and said:

"Ningxia is still experiencing a severe drought this year. If Your Majesty had not issued an order for disaster relief long ago, the people would be living in misery now!"

"The Qing Palace has not received the 26th year of Wanli's reign. I wonder when the government will make up for it?"

These words seemed to remind the other kings, and they all cried poor, saying that Zonglu had owed them for many years.

Just listening to their words, it seems that the royal family is in great trouble and many of them can hardly hold on.

Zhu Youjian felt annoyed when he saw them crying poor in their fancy clothes.

But in order to show his respect for the royal family, he could only wipe away his tears and said:
"How could I not know the situation of the royal family? That's why I let you go overseas to establish a fiefdom."

"When Taizu set the clan salary in the past, he could never have imagined that there would be hundreds of thousands of clan members now. It would be impossible to distribute the clan salary he set."

"Although my brother has set a limit on clan salaries, there have been wars and floods and droughts in recent years."

"In order to completely resolve this matter and to allow the royal family and the imperial family to share in the wealth and prosperity, I will grant you a fiefdom and a foundation."

Speaking of his inner thoughts, he said to King Qing:

"Uncle Prince Qing said that the clan salary for the 26th year of Wanli has not yet been paid. I will give you a compensation by allowing the area of ​​the Qing vassal to double from one million square miles to two million square miles."

"But your direct fiefdom cannot exceed a thousand miles, and the rest must be divided among the princes and royal family members."

"I want you to continue to be neighbors with the King of Han. Are you willing?"

Prince Qing Zhu Zhuo was still wiping his tears, but his mouth was open.

He had never imagined that the current emperor would be so generous and double the size of his fiefdom just by saying a word.

Although it didn't seem like a good place, the two million square miles of land was larger than the entire Shaanxi Province. Even if it relied only on hunting, it could support the entire Qing Clan.

Moreover, he also knew that the current emperor had been collecting furs from the vassal states in the north. If they sold the furs of their prey, they would earn even more money.

So he was really tempted at this moment, and most importantly, he did not dare to disobey the emperor——

The emperor has put forward such good conditions. If he still refuses out of respect, the emperor will most likely give him worse land like he did to Duke Cheng.

Facing the emperor's stern gaze, Prince Qing Zhu Zhuo hardened his heart and bowed, saying:

"Thank you for your grace!"

"I will establish a vassal state and guard the border for the Ming Dynasty."

Zhu Youjian was very satisfied. He signaled the eunuch beside him to help him up and nodded:

"I am very pleased that Uncle Prince Qing has this realization."

"Bring me the map, I will mark out the territory for the Qing vassal."

He took out the map that had just been used to divide the land for Duke Chengguo, pointed to the north of Beihai Island and said:

"This is the Thousand Islands. King Qing can discuss with King Han how to divide it."

"To the north of the Kuril Islands is a peninsula that is covered with ice all year round and has many volcanoes."

"I named it the Ice and Fire Peninsula. Together with the Ice and Fire Islands to the east, we can call it the Ice and Fire Island."

"The area of ​​Ice and Fire Island is about 1.5 million square miles. Uncle Qing can continue to select land to the north to make up 2 million square miles." This means that the entire Kamchatka Peninsula and some places further north are all assigned to the Qing clan.

In Zhu Youjian's opinion, it is already pretty good. In the future, when Qing clan develops, maybe, probably, it is possible that it can be compared with the strength of Jiangling Principality.

But Prince Qing almost cried, as he never expected that the emperor would give him such a place.

After King Han became a fief, King Qing was not without preparation for the establishment of a fiefdom, as he knew that the area was the Beishan Jurchens, which was called the Liugui Kingdom during the Tang Dynasty and had exchanges with the Central Plains.

Thinking of this name, Prince Qing said with a sad face:

"Your Majesty, this is the Liugui Kingdom of the Tang Dynasty, a completely foreign land!"

"Your Majesty, it would be better for you to give Wuhewei to Qingfan and let Duke Cheng go to Liugui Kingdom."

No matter how miserable and cold the fiefdom of Duke Chengguo was, it was after all a part of the Ming Dynasty, and there used to be river guards stationed there.

However, his Ice and Fire Island is a place that the Ming Dynasty rarely touches upon. All we know is that there is the Beishan Jurchens and a dog country there.

In addition, it is located so far to the north, and is colder than Cheng Principality and Jiangling Principality. The emperor even named it Ice and Fire Island. He really didn't believe that it could develop.

For a moment, he was really disheartened and regretted not taking the initiative to request a fiefdom like the King of Han did last year, and was instead conferred this rotten land.

Zhu Youjian was a little embarrassed, because the entire Kamchatka Peninsula only had more than 200,000 people in later generations. Even if the Ming Dynasty could migrate more people, it would not exceed 300,000 at this time.

It is too shabby to use this as a vassal state of Prince Qing.

This made him look at the Chukotka Peninsula and give it to King Qing, and said to him:

"In the Arctic Circle north of 66 degrees 34 minutes north latitude, there are polar days and polar nights - sometimes it is completely daytime, and sometimes it is completely dark."

"A place like that is almost uninhabitable, so the land was given to the southern feudal state for management."

"I will give this piece to Uncle Qing as well. Are you satisfied?"

Pointing to the Chukchi Peninsula, Zhu Youjian named it the Nightlight Peninsula and handed it over to Qing Fan for management.

In this way, the area of ​​the entire Qingwang vassal state exceeded four million square miles, which was four times the size of a normal vassal state.

Of course, most of the place was unusable, and the total population of this area in later generations was barely 300,000.

In contrast, the later Kuwu Island had a population of 500,000 and the Beihai Island had a population of over 5 million.

It can be said that the potential of Qing Clan is at most comparable to that of Jiangling Principality, and is far from comparable to that of Han Clan.

However, Prince Qing was satisfied at this time, knowing that if he continued to cry, he would not be able to get more fiefs, and it might even make the emperor unhappy and not allow him to take charge of the fiefdom.

The area of ​​the fiefdom of four million square miles was something he had never imagined.

Even if he only conquered the natives and asked them to pay tribute, he could still support his Prince Qing's Palace.

Having read the "Kunyu World Map", he knew that there was a Dog Country there, and there was also a Yaksha Country during the Tang Dynasty, so it was not completely uninhabited.

So he accepted the fiefdom reluctantly but secretly with joy, and asked the emperor to send troops to help him immigrate, and then settle down in the fiefdom after establishing a stronghold.

Out of pity and a hidden agenda, Zhu Youjian agreed to Prince Qing's request and allowed him to establish a fiefdom after establishing a stronghold.

At the same time, Shang Kexi was sent to lead a fleet to help King Qing and explore the route to Alaska along the Ice and Fire Island.

The purpose, of course, was to take a fancy to the gold mines in Alaska and send immigrants to pan for gold after the routes were stabilized.

He believed that as long as the gold rush could be started, more people would immigrate to the north.

The royal family and nobles would also be more active in establishing fiefdoms and taking the initiative to go overseas.

He had asked the Imperial Household Supervisor to collect gold mining techniques and manufacture tools. He planned to send inner court personnel to provide logistics and banks to purchase gold for the inner court's reserves.
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However, before this strategy was implemented, Zhu Youjian received a piece of intelligence that made him pay more attention to the collection of gold:
"One ounce of gold in Japan can be exchanged for 12 or 13 ounces of silver, while in the Ming Dynasty it is 7 or 8 ounces to 10 ounces."

"Many Portuguese merchants in Xiangshan'ao made profits from this and shipped silver bars back to Japan."

Looking at the information collected from Japan, Zhu Youjian was somewhat glad that this matter was discovered early.

Otherwise, after a large number of silver dollars were issued and the silver standard was established, a lot of gold would be lost and converted into silver and transported back.

But the value of silver would become lower and lower. Zhu Youjian knew that most countries in later generations had implemented the gold standard.

The reason is that silver has depreciated too much and its value has been decreasing.

The reason why he now issued silver dollars and implemented the silver standard was actually that he was forced to recognize the current situation of the Ming Dynasty.

The people of the Ming Dynasty today only recognize silver as currency, and it is impossible to implement the gold standard by force.

What's more, the Ming Dynasty does not have enough gold now to support the needs of market circulation.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian planned to use the silver standard for a period of time, and then switch to the gold standard after collecting enough gold.

But warning Japan of the war made him realize that he was not the only one collecting gold, there were others competing for it.

If it is not curbed, many people will use silver to exchange for gold, accelerating the loss of gold in the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Youjian, who noticed this, immediately gave the order:
"Order the customs to strictly investigate gold transactions and prohibit the outflow of Ming gold."

“If gold must be used, let the holders go to the bank to exchange it for silver dollars.”

Thinking of the current gold-silver exchange rate in Japan, he planned to export more goods to Japan in exchange for silver and ship it back.

He needed more silver to mint silver coins and spread them throughout the Ming Dynasty. (End of this chapter)