I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 356 Everyone is in the cesspool, so you won’t stink
Zhu Xian refused to get up, holding Zhao Zhenji's hand, and begged: "Mr. Dazhou, you are kind and compassionate, please give me some advice and save my family's lives."

"Your Highness, Prince of Liao, please take a seat first. We will discuss this matter later. If you still insist on doing this, I will leave immediately."

Zhu Xian sat down on the chair and leaned forward, waiting for Zhao Zhenji's guidance.

Zhao Zhenji asked, "Your Highness the Prince of Liao is living in seclusion here. According to the rules, there are government reports and reading books distributed regularly. Your Highness can read them?"

In the past, solitary confinement meant confinement, isolation from the outside world.

However, after Zhu Yijun came to power, he changed some rules and issued some court reports and reading booklets on a regular basis.

The reading booklets are small notebooks compiled by the Taichang Temple that explain the new policies and instructions from His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

Zhu Xian looked embarrassed.

Who would read these things? I'm so upset. I'm already observing the etiquette of a subject by not using them as toilet paper.

Zhao Zhenji shook his head and said, "Your Highness, the King of Liao, the new dynasty has a new atmosphere. In the new dynasty, you don't need to worship Taoism or be good at writing Qingci. You just need to be good at learning and make continuous progress in learning.

These government reports are the mouthpiece of the imperial court. They clearly explain why the imperial edicts and decrees were issued and how they were implemented. Those reading books are even more profound. The future of the Ming Dynasty lies in those reading books.

Your Highness, Prince of Liao, if you don't even try to find a way forward, what future do you have?"

Zhu Xian immediately replied, "I know I was wrong. From now on, I will study these political reports every day and study the reading books in depth. I will write a review every day and submit it to the emperor for his review."

Still smart, there is a cure.

Zhao Zhenji looked pleased and continued, "Now the Ming Dynasty has 23 princes and vassal kings. According to the Jade Book, the population of each prince is about 100,000.

The Zhou Palace in Kaifeng was the largest palace of a vassal prince in the dynasty, with 48 princes and 5,235 members of the royal family according to statistics in the second year of Longqing.

The Jin Palace was the second largest princely palace in the Qing Dynasty, with 3,678 members of the imperial clan. The Dai Palace was the third largest princely palace, with 4,118 members of the imperial clan in the second year of Longqing.

According to the imperial edict and ancestral system, the prince's salary was 10,000 dan of rice, the prince of a county 2,000 dan, and the rest, from generals defending the country to lieutenants serving the country, received between 1,000 and 200 dan of rice.

In the 32nd year of Jiajing, the annual rice supply to the capital was only 4 million dan, while the rice salary expenditure of the local princes was 8.53 million dan. The imperial court was short of funds, so the local princes collected rice and grain on their own, and with the addition of farmland and corvée labor, the local people suffered terribly.

Zhao Zhenji stared at Zhu Xian and asked, "Your Highness, Prince of Liao, I have a question that will hit you hard. Why should the vassal states receive such great favors and receive so much rice every year?"

Zhu Xian was shocked.

Why?
Because I am the descendant of Emperor Taizu!

But he could not figure out what Zhao Zhenji meant, so he answered vaguely: "We were all given titles by the descendants of Taizu, and we are all descendants of Taizu."

Zhao Zhenji stroked his beard and asked, "How many generations has the Liao vassal state been passed down to Your Highness?"

Zhu Xian's heart skipped a beat, but he had to answer: "The eighth generation."

"It's the eighth generation. According to Zhou Li, the nine clans of this clan will soon be born."

The nine generations of the clan are the nine generations of the paternal lineage from the great-great-grandfather to the great-great-grandson in the Zhou Li. They are considered one clan and the clan system. In other words, nine generations of a clan can be considered one clan, which is the foundation of clan ethics.

After nine generations, they can no longer be considered a clan, and the patriarchal ethics will no longer work.

When Zhu Xian heard this, he became anxious.

After nine generations, we are no longer a clan. Wouldn't all our wealth and glory for generations be in vain?

"Mr. Dazhou, this is our ancestral rule, an ancestral rule that will never change for thousands of generations."

"Ancestral rules. Your Highness the Prince of Liao, you are so strict in following the ancestral rules. Do you still want to share the Ming Dynasty with the Emperor as the descendants of Taizu?"

Zhu Xian’s face turned pale!
Emperor Taizu divided the world among his sons with clear intention: the royal family would jointly protect the world and consolidate the country forever.

Its essence is to follow Zhou Li, and the Zhu family will share the Ming Dynasty. Because according to the imperial edict system, the royal family is the direct lineage, and once the lineage is extinct, the successor will be selected from other branches of the royal family according to the closeness of blood relationship.

This is what Emperor Jiajing was like.

But at least he and Emperor Zhengde have the same grandfather.

The princes appointed by Emperor Taizu were many generations apart from the emperor and the crown prince. They ate the rice provided by the emperor, occupied the land of the emperor, and coveted the throne of the emperor.

Do people like you?

Zhao Zhenji looked at Zhu Xian's face and added calmly, "Your Highness, the Prince of Liao, your crime has not yet been judged, so I dare not make any rash comments. But according to the impeachment memorial, once convicted, deprivation of title and imprisonment are the lightest punishments, and the worst punishment may be execution by hanging. Your Highness, if you are dead, what is the meaning of the ancestral system that has been passed down for thousands of years?"

Yes, you should take care of your own life first, why should you worry so much about other things!

"Mr. Dazhou, it is Zhu who is confused. Please tell me how to survive."

"Your Highness, you are aware of your sins. If you really want to survive, you must do great deeds."

great merit?

Zhu Xian knew what Zhao Zhenji meant.

Xiyuan wanted to abolish the system of enfeoffment of royal family members, but this was the most important matter in the imperial edict and ancestral system, and it was self-evident with other ancestral systems. Xiyuan needed a legitimate reason.

This matter fell on my head.

Zhu Xian thought about it for a while and finally made a decision.

He couldn't even save his own life. No matter how good the system of enfeoffment of royal family was, the throne of Liao prince would fall on the head of that bastard Zhu Xianhe, and he would get it for nothing.

"Please Mr. Dazhou show me a way forward. I will go through fire and water without hesitation!"

Seeing that he was so sensible, Zhao Zhenji was secretly happy, and knew that things would be easy to handle.

"Your Highness, Prince of Liao, please study the political newspaper and the booklet diligently from now on, write more reflections after reading them, and then be deeply moved and change your past mistakes. Write more confessions and honestly explain all the wrong things you have done before.

Knowing your mistakes can make a lot of improvements!

Secondly, the Liao prince must have the courage to expose the various illegalities of other princes."

"Other vassal kings are doing illegal things? Mr. Dazhou, what does this mean?"

"If you drag everyone into the cesspool, you alone won't stink. Your Highness the Prince of Liao, you must understand this principle."

Yes, now he was singled out as a negative example of a prince of the royal family, and he was infamous. But Zhu Xianhe knew that there were many princes in various places who played more outrageous games than he did.

It was only because he was highly favored during the Jiajing period and was the most favored member of the royal family that the civil officials and other members of the royal family disliked him, so they singled him out as the culprit.

Since I am not having a good time, then no one will have a good time!

Zhu Xianhe also knew his mission and was brave enough to jump into the cesspool and drag all the royal family and princes into it, making the entire royal family and princes stink. This gave the crown prince a reason to issue an edict to rectify the royal family and reform the feudal system.

But we princes all live our own lives in our own territories. Although we have heard of various bad deeds from each other, it is hard to say without any evidence.

"Mr. Dazhou, according to the ancestral system and imperial edict, the princes are forbidden to have any contact with each other. I have heard of the bad deeds of other princes, but I can't tell you anything."

"That's fine. The officials will give you something. Just choose the words according to the letter and write a good denunciation letter. You won't be asked to expose the Qing clan in Ningxia or the Jingjiang Palace in Guangxi. You just need to focus on those in Huguang and the neighboring countries."

"Zhu understands. Thank you Dazhou for saving my life."

Zhu Xianhe understood everything and thanked him profusely.

"Your Highness, if you need anything later, just tell the people outside. I have told them to satisfy you as much as possible, and for the rest, please report to me and I will find a way for you."

After leaving the confinement center, Zhao Zhenji sat in the carriage, thinking about what he had just said.

Reforming the royal family system would benefit the country and the people, and it seemed to have a huge impact, even greater than measuring the land and rectifying the administration of officials. But in fact, Zhao Zhenji knew that the risk was not that great.

Land survey will affect the noble families, large, medium and small landlords in the world. Rectifying the administration of officials will affect hundreds of thousands of officials and the vines behind them.

The change in the royal family will affect only the less than 100,000 members of the royal family, while the rest of the people will be happy to see it happen.

The key is whether the emperor and the prince have made up their minds. If they have made up their minds, changing the old system of the royal family will actually be the least risky.

In an age of great contention, everyone wants to fight.

After getting off the carriage and walking into the backyard of the Censorate, Wu Chang hurriedly came up to him and said softly, "Zhongcheng, Xu Shoufu has submitted a petition to resign and return home."

Zhao Zhenji's steps were firm.

It’s finally here, it’s finally about to begin!

(End of this chapter)