Borrow the day to change the day

At this moment, there was movement in the box next door, as if the people inside had left the box.

It may be that the servants in the box over there also heard some voices in the box here, knowing that someone was asking about the clan of the vassal king, and persuaded the son of the king of Zhou to leave in order to avoid trouble.

Zhong Jinwei heard the movement, thought for a while, and looked at Si Xiaodao: "Dingguo, go and ask the person who spoke just now, what makes him feel bad about this drama."

After finishing the order, he said to Li Laosi: "You follow Dingguo, and he doesn't need to come forward if he has nothing to do."

Finally, he turned around and faced Wang Peng and said, "A child in Dingguo is not an official, so he shouldn't have violated the laws of the court?"

In fact, as far as Wang Peng is concerned, it is best for Li Dingguo not to go.But judging by Zhongxinghou's expression, he made up his mind to ask clearly.In desperation, Wang Peng nodded and said, "Okay."

Seeing that Wang Peng agreed, Li Dingguo stood up from the stool with a "shua", and then ran out, thinking about catching up with the man.

Li Laosi hurriedly chased after him, and under the guidance of his companion at the door, he and Li Dingguo went to chase the son of Zhou Wang.

After Zhong Jinwei saw them go out, he explained to Wang Peng: "That Zhou Palace is good at music and drama. Since the people in Zhou Palace said so, there should be some truth. It would be best to improve after asking."

Everyone has already chased them out, what else can Wang Peng say, he can only nod and say: "Master Hou is right."

After Zhong Jinwei finished explaining the matter, he said to Wang Peng: "As for the clan affairs, you can continue to tell me."

"Yes, Lord Hou." Wang Peng agreed, and suddenly thought of something, first let the two guards stay in the next box to prevent the wall from having ears.

Then he continued to explain the clan of Ming Dynasty to Zhong Jinwei: "The restrictions on the clan at first were mainly for the officialdom, but they were very generous in terms of other remuneration. The vassal king not only has a salary for life, but also a very generous salary. The annual salary is only one meter. Items, that is, up to [-] shi, which is [-] times that of a minister of the first grade. In addition, there are expenses for canonization, palace, marriage, funeral, etc., and are given to kitchen servants, Zhai Lang, and shopkeepers and other handymen..."

"Wait, since you said that the treatment is so good, why did you say that many middle and lower clans have become poor households, and what happened to the beggar clans in the Great Tartar Castle?" Zhong Jinwei was surprised when he heard this, and interrupted Wang Peng's commentary.

Wang Peng listened and said with a smile: "Master Hou, don't worry, wait for my subordinates to explain to you slowly."

When Zhong Jinwei heard this, he became impatient, nodded a little embarrassedly, and listened quietly to Wang Peng's details.

"In the last years of Hongwu, Taizu reduced the vassal king's salary to ten thousand shi, and it is still the same until now. In addition, the county king Lumi is two thousand shi, the general of the town is one thousand shi, the general of the auxiliary country is [-] shi, and the general of Fengguo is [-] shi , Lieutenant Zhenguo is four hundred stones, Lieutenant Fuguo is two hundred stones, Princess Lumi is two thousand stones..."

While listening to Wang Peng explaining the salary, Zhong Jinwei secretly calculated in his heart.The county magistrate in the Ming Dynasty only had ninety shi a year, and the lowest level of the clan had [-] shi. That is to say, the sum of two magistrates was not worth the salary of a lowest-level clan.

After Wang Peng finished talking about the specific treatment at each level of the clan, he wanted to answer Zhong Jinwei's question, and then continued: "Since Chenghua, the clan population has increased day by day, and when there is an apology for the year, the regular gift is insufficient. Below the prince, it has to be halved." Give it to Lumi..."

Hearing this, Zhong Jinwei thought that halving Lumi should be higher than that of Zhixian County, so how could he become a beggar?He frowned, still didn't want to understand.

Seeing Zhong Jinwei's expression, Wang Peng knew that Marquis Zhongxing still didn't want to understand, so he said in detail: "During the Jiajing period, Yu Shi Lin Run compared the annual supply of grain to the capital with the expenditure of Lumi in the palace, and the result surprised the world."

"Oh, what's the result of the comparison?" Zhong Jinwei was surprised and asked quickly.

"The whole world provides 400 million shi of grain for the capital every year, but the expenditure of Lumi by various prefectures reaches as much as 850 million shi. For example, in Henan, the remaining grain is only 84 shi, but the clan's Lumi reaches 190 million shi."

Dongchang is worthy of being selected from Jinyiwei's elite, and Wang Peng, who is proficient in martial arts, can remember these numbers so clearly, which is considered amazing.

"Then how did the court solve it?" Zhong Jinwei asked.

Wang Peng smiled at Zhong Jinwei and said, "Master Hou, this is the question you asked earlier, and the practice is that the imperial court does not pay the clan salary in arrears. To be honest, there is really no way to give it."

According to what Wang Peng said, Zhong Jinwei sorted out the relationship: the Ming Dynasty had so many restrictions on the clan, and they could only do that thing if they had nothing to do. Once they did that thing, the population would multiply quickly. When there were more clans, the burden on the court would be heavy, and the burden on the court would be heavy. In turn, the clan's salary was in arrears. This is the current situation of the Ming clan.

Suddenly he realized that something was wrong, so he asked Wang Peng, "According to what you said, since the imperial court defaulted on payment, then apart from the impoverishment of the middle and lower clans, wouldn't the middle and upper clans have any influence?"

Wang Peng nodded when he heard the words, then shook his head and said, "Yes, but you can also say no."

Zhong Jinwei was surprised, and asked Wang Peng, "How do you say it?"

"The upper and middle clans, especially the vassal kings in various places, do not rely on their salary like the middle and lower clans. The main income of the vassal kings in various places is the farmland, official stores and salt shops under their names. Therefore, although there are salary arrears , but had little effect on them.”

Seeing that Wang Peng had been answering for a long time, Zhong Jinwei invited him to sit at the table, poured him a cup of tea himself, and let him moisten his throat.

"Thank you, Lord Hou." After thanking Wang Peng, he drank it all in one gulp.

Zhong Jinwei poured him another glass, and then asked: "How much property do these vassals own? Without Wanshi Lumi, it will not have much influence on them?"

Wang Peng drank the tea poured by Lord Hou himself, and his words became more vigorous. He nodded and said, "Master Hou, I will tell you about the property of King Zhou of Kaifeng Mansion. At least half of Kaifeng Mansion Nominally, the fields belong to the Prince Zhou’s Mansion, and there are many shops and the like.”

Zhong Jinwei heard that more than half of the land in Kaifeng Mansion belonged to one person, so the concentration of this land is really high.But Zhong Jinwei immediately found a suspicious point in Wang Peng's words, and asked, "What do you mean by name?"

Wang Peng secretly admired Zhong Jinwei's carefulness. He nodded and explained to Zhong Jinwei: "It means that part of the property under the name of King Zhou is managed by the local government, and it is enough to pay a certain amount of tax to King Zhou's house every year."

Zhong Jinwei was confused, and asked Wang Peng, "What do you mean?"

"There is a big difference between Zhou Wang's land property being managed by the local government and the Zhou Wangfu's direct management. The land property managed by the Zhou Dynasty has the final say on how much tax is deducted every year, or how much tax money is paid, and how much is owed. , the palace has nothing to do with them."

As soon as Wang Peng's words fell, Zhong Jinwei exclaimed: "They are so bold, is it reasonable to default on their debts?"

Wang Peng didn't like those civil servants either. Seeing Hou Zhongxing's surprise, he explained: "Master Hou, even if the court is in arrears with taxes, why are you still afraid of the palace?"

Hearing what Wang Peng said, Zhong Jinwei thought it was true. Daming's palace is like a tiger without claws, or even a tiger is not counted. If those civil officials don't bully them, who else will they bully!

While Zhong Jinwei was meditating, Wang Peng picked up his teacup and drank it down. After pouring himself another cup, seeing that Zhong Jinwei was still thinking, he said, "My lord, no matter what, there are enough fields in the palace. And whether it is the fields they directly manage or the fields in name, the imperial court does not collect taxes."

Zhong Jinwei turned his attention back to Wang Peng, and said in conclusion: "In other words, the more and more clan vassals, the heavier the court's burden, the more the clan's property, the less revenue the court has?"

"You can say that." Wang Peng nodded.

In fact, Zhong Jinwei didn't need Wang Peng to be sure, he already had the answer in his heart.He looked at the empty stage, was silent for a while, and then said to himself: "It's all caused by the hereditary system. If you want to rejuvenate the Ming Dynasty, you must solve the clan problem!"

Wang Peng heard it, but he acted as if he hadn't heard it. This topic is not for him to express his opinion.As for the third child next to him, he was stupefied and couldn't express his opinion, so the box fell silent.

At this moment, hurried footsteps came from outside, and Li Dingguo's voice was heard immediately: "Master Hou, I asked the reason!"

When Zhong Jinwei heard it, he thought that the drama was really flawed!