Guangzong Yaoming

Chapter 232 Playing with fire and burning yourself
The inertia of the times is vividly reflected in this incident, probably because the parties involved are the vassal kings who have been least affected in the past three years.

Perhaps because the Chu clan was one of the first three vassal states chosen by the emperor as the beneficiary of the Changming clan, Zhu Huakui felt that he had a closer relationship with the emperor and that sending some silver as a gift could suppress the matter.

Although Shen Yikuan was no longer in the court and had confiscated Zhu Huakui's silver, there were still people fanning the flames under the guise of legitimate reasons for reforming the Zonglu system.

The main themes in the capital city now are the provincial examinations and the imperial examinations, the establishment of a holy temple on Wansui Mountain, and the new Confucian system drafted by the Taichang Temple and the Ministry of Rites and announced to the world.

Wang Bi, a descendant of Marquis Dingyuan, and one of his clansmen said that the wealth deposited by their ancestors in the Chu vassal state amounted to more than 13 million taels. This matter was immediately slapped down by Zhu Changluo without causing any ripples.

Shen Shixing, Wang Xijue, Zhu Geng, Shen Li, the other four ministers besides the Privy Councilor were all in front of Zhu Changluo.

"Eight hundred miles of rush, the report from the Huguang governor is about military intelligence." Zhu Changluo said gloomily, "The King of Chu wanted to present me with 20,000 taels of silver on the pretext of helping with the construction. The silver was robbed by the Chu clan in Hanyang just after it crossed the Yangtze River."

The four people's faces suddenly changed. Shen Li asked first: "Your Majesty, the King of Chu wants to donate silver to help the construction. Your Majesty agrees?"

"I'm afraid the memorial is still on the way. I won't approve it." Zhu Changluo looked grim. "But even without my order, this tribute of silver cannot be called the imperial stave. Robbery is robbery. The royal family broke the law, but the local authorities are still concerned or not? The people in Beijing are clamoring to reform the royal salary, and the local authorities are questioning the royal family. Before, Dingyuan Hou jumped out. Will the local gentry in Huguang spread rumors that the government is torturing the royal family and provoking a riot in the Chu vassal state?"

"Gang" is a thick stick used to carry heavy objects, and sometimes it also refers to boxes. The tributes presented to the emperor were called "Huang Gang" by the people.

It cannot be said that the 20,000 taels of silver were already the emperor's property. After all, Zhu Changluo did not ask for it, and legally speaking, it was not officially presented to the emperor.

But robbery is robbery, and the robbers are members of the royal family, so the issue is very sensitive.

This is not just inertia, it's even accelerating.

At this point, the four of them could no longer turn a blind eye and pretend that these things were just coincidences.

"I have warned you about the potential dangers of the royal family and the gentry joining forces to cause chaos." Zhu Changluo looked at Wang Xijue, "Has the Ministry of Justice found out who was behind Wang Shouren's case?"

"…We are still interrogating the other accomplice, Wang Jinxi."

"The thief only wants this bizarre rumor!" Zhu Changluo said coldly, "More than 13 million taels of money, a wise man knows that this is a rumor, but what about ordinary people? What about the relatives of the Chu clan? Even if the thief was thrown into prison as soon as he heard the question, the rumor would still spread. I had decided to consolidate the results starting from the third year of Taichang, why do we have to reform the clan salary at this juncture? It's not that I don't want to, I have been thinking of a way!"

"...Your Majesty, we have failed to consider the matter carefully. Please forgive us." Wang Xijue took the lead and knelt down.

"Fanglue is arrogant!" Zhu Changluo looked at Shen Shixing again, "Although the clan salary is already a huge burden, and many generals and lieutenants of the clan and vassal states are indeed alienated from the princes and dukes, if the ban was relaxed and the imperial examinations were opened, it would be useful. How could there be no clan children willing to take the exam until now? The Ministry of Rites wants to reform the clan salary. The focus should be on following the example of Henan, Shanxi, and Shaanxi provinces, and set the clan salary for all vassal states as a permanent quota?"

Shen Shixing also knelt down and bowed his head: "After the eleventh year of Wanli, the three provinces and the vassal states were also stable, and the Ministry of Rites agreed that it could be implemented."

It is said that after the 11th year of Wanli, the clan salaries of Qin, Jin, Dai, Shen and other vassal states in Henan, Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces were allocated a fixed amount of clan salaries. From then on, no matter how many descendants they had, they would be given this amount. It would not be increased, but it would never be reduced either.

From the eleventh year of the Wanli reign till now, the vassal states of these three provinces have indeed not caused any trouble.

"Yes, it is a permanent solution to limit the amount of rice for the clan salary." Zhu Changluo snorted, "According to the records, the amount of rice for the clan salary is indeed frighteningly high, more than 10 million dan. But how much is actually given? Calculating the total amount, the actual expenditure is only more than 1 million taels. If all the land taxes and taxes in the Ming Dynasty are converted into silver, the clan salary accounts for less than 10%. Even if all of them are changed to fixed quotas, how much can be saved?"

The burden of the royal family in the Ming Dynasty is hard to calculate in detail. On the surface, the burden of the royal family has obviously accounted for nearly 30% of the annual tax revenue of the Ming Dynasty. However, the arrears and the discounts are still controlled at 5% of the total annual revenue of the Ming Dynasty.

Of course, the vassal states will continue to multiply, and the exponential growth is indeed impressive, and this problem should be faced.

However, the strategy discussed by the Ministry of Rites did seem arrogant.

Zhu Changluo said again: "The reason why Henan, Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces have not made a fuss is because they still have some annual income from the salary and farmland. But this time you have come up with a strategy that says that since the salary will be set to the clan from now on, the previous salary and farmland should be taken back. Do you think that with the Privy Council, the reorganization of the Beijing camp, and the establishment of the left and right commanders of the five armies, the clan and vassal states can only wait obediently?"

"…I dare not."

"Let's not talk about the fact that the royal family and vassal states are descendants of the royal family, but they are living people after all, right? If the ban is relaxed and the imperial examinations are opened, where will those who want to be farmers find their land? Will those who want to be businessmen have the capital? How can those who want to study not worry about food, clothing, housing and transportation?" This was said of the middle and lower class royal family members who made up the majority. This situation cannot be said to be exaggerated, as indeed a large number of lower-level royal family members had reached this level.

If Zhu Changluo only relaxed the imperial examinations and expanded them to the rank of General Guarding the Country, and then changed the permanent salary quota for the various vassal states and even took back the land that was deducted from the salary, what else could he be but arrogance?
This means that an ordinary middle or lower class royal family member can only rely on the set quota to support more children in the future.

The key point is that they did not control too many means of production, and the assets of the princes and dukes were all controlled by the princes and dukes.

Although it can be said that receiving a salary without doing anything is already a privilege, but for them, can this be regarded as the emperor winning over the middle and lower-level royal family members to suppress princes and dukes?
It was basically blocking both ends: on the one hand, they created momentum so that the princes would not dare to resist, and on the other hand, they won the support of the middle and lower-level royal family members by relaxing restrictions, opening up imperial examinations, and distributing clan salaries.

He simply thought that as long as he strictly supervised the prince and prevented him from exploiting his relatives, he could get things done.

The actual benefit gained in return was that more than 10 million acres of farmland were taken over as government land.

In the early Ming Dynasty, the land tax for one mu of official farmland was more than five liters, but with the passage of time, if the local taxes are evenly distributed, the average tax for one mu of official farmland is about four dou of grain. This means that the Ming Dynasty may have an additional annual income of five or six million shi of grain.

So it can be said that Wang Xijue and Shen Shixing had a good idea. They wanted to use a permanent quota of more than one million taels of silver for clan salaries and a loose imperial examination for all clan members below the rank of general guarding the country in exchange for an annual income of several million shi.

They will settle this account, but the royal family won’t?
"The Ministry of Rites has proposed such a 'good policy', and all the provinces and prefectures that bear the burden of the clan salary are eagerly waiting for it. If I don't agree, the local governments can only continue to focus on the officials and gentry and strictly exempt them. If you agree, it will save a lot of energy!" Zhu Changluo looked at them one by one, "Of course, everyone will praise you, leaving me alone to deal with the endless crying of more than 80,000 clan relatives!"

Wang Xijue and others lowered their heads and said nothing, but they did not refute and their attitudes were still firm.

The grace of a gentleman will be cut off after five generations. Although it is not easy to say this to the royal family, they do not think it is fundamentally wrong.

Whether the local governments can save some money is not a big deal, after all, they can still be asked to implement preferential treatment. But the court has a lot more income, which is a real fact.

To be able to reach their position and decide to do this, they must have considered the pros, cons and consequences carefully.

The emperor can point it out to me face to face now, and he seems to be angry, but that doesn’t matter.

After all, he also realized that the local authorities were indeed looking forward to it.

It doesn’t matter if this strategy is criticized as arrogant, but it is undoubtedly in the interests of the central government, local governments and even the emperor himself.

Isn’t it interests that adults talk about?
As for the clan members who were crying endlessly, they would rather give more to the treasury later so that the emperor could use it to appease them. But this annual income should first pass through the hands of the court!
"Send an order to Huguang. All clan members who hijacked the pillars of justice shall be sent to the capital. I will personally take charge of it." Zhu Changluo ordered slowly. "The mountains are high and the roads are long. If the case continues to be tried by the three judicial departments in the local area, we don't know what the local authorities will do to implement the reform strategy of clan salaries. The two brothers, the King of Chu and the Prince of Xuanhua, the Queen Mother of Chu, Wang and her brother, and others, are to be escorted to the capital by the Left Commander-in-Chief of the Front Army, Chen Lin. I will personally take care of it! Before the case is settled, the reform strategy of clan salaries will not be reported!"

Finally, he said sternly: "Send the imperial edict to Wuchang Prefecture as soon as possible! If the governor of Huguang is too eager to make a decision, and the local officials and gentry instigate and instigate, and let the Chu vassal do something again, don't blame me for investigating it thoroughly and killing hundreds of people in Huguang!"

The four "Prime Ministers" took their leave with heavy hearts.

It is very obvious that the emperor was worried from the beginning that the local people would add fuel to the fire, but he still allowed them to push it to this point. He was probably waiting for some real trouble to happen, anticipating that doing so might end up burning himself.

The phrase "hundreds of families were killed" is not a reference to the first year of Taichang? Three important officials were arrested and hundreds of gentry were investigated.

This is the case at the local level. With a large amount of government land, it is of course easiest for the government to cooperate with the wealthy local gentry.

If there is hope of suppressing the royal family, this strategy of clan salary reform is undoubtedly a way for the court officials to "appease" the officials and gentry throughout the world.

Walking outside the new palace wall that had not yet been completed, Shen Shixing said, "We must find out who the mastermind behind Wang Bi is. This person dared to let Wang... Shouren and Wang Jinxi do this. He definitely didn't just deceive them, thinking that he would be rewarded by the emperor. Those two people don't seem to be foolish. I'm afraid they have gained other benefits before they dared to take such a risk."

Wang Xijue nodded solemnly, and then bowed to Shen Li: "Please ask the Inspection Institute to keep an eye on it as well."

(End of this chapter)