Guangzong Yaoming

Chapter 252: The action is very big, bear with it for a while

The emperor stood up, and the kings also stood up one by one.

Zhu Changluo looked at them and said, "I dare not speak nonsense in front of our ancestors. Do you believe in me? Are you willing to help me?"

The night wind was still blowing in the imperial mausoleum, but the wind direction was slightly different now.

Starting from the 28th year of Wanli, they also witnessed the changes in the Ming Dynasty: the three marquises and five earls were pulled out of the Beijing camp; the gentry were filled with resentment, but they had no idea how much of their accumulated wealth had been confiscated.

Now the emperor says he wants to expand the territory and replace all the vassal states surrounding the Ming Dynasty with people with the surname Zhu, so that they can truly own their own land, subjects, and even...army?
This is a cake, but it has short-term advantages and long-term guarantees. Prince Lu looked at his nephew and was the first to kneel down and said, "I believe you! I am willing to help Your Majesty!"

In fact, there was no way to resist. It was good enough that the emperor did not cut it directly with a knife, let alone being willing to draw this pie in front of the tombs of our ancestors?
It turns out that the discussion at the grave is to make everyone more willing to believe: this is really a promise, even though there is no sign of it yet.

Zhu Huazeng, who was waiting to be crowned as the king, kowtowed the second time, and then the third, fourth...

Zhu Changluo was very happy: "With your statements, it is time for me, the patriarch, to make the court officials keep silent!"

……

The next day, the emperor returned to Beijing.

There are still many problems to be solved.

At the local level, each prince had his own palace and his own ceremonial regulations.

How to manage them if they all leave the closed country? Where to place them?

The late emperor has been buried, and the period of mourning has passed.

Zhu Changluo could have continued to observe mourning for more than two years just to pretend, but there was no need to do so - even the father and son who had a good relationship before did not do so.

After all, there are so many state affairs.

The Ministry of Rites examination that was supposed to be held in February was not postponed because of this, but the palace examination was postponed for half a month, and he had to deal with it.

Since Zhu Yijun has already slept in the underground palace he had built for himself a long time ago, it is time for him to officially start compiling the Veritable Records of Emperor Zhezong and the Taiyue Gongji, and speed up the process.

This work will take quite some time.

As for the reform of clan salaries, which was first proposed last year, it is time to come to a conclusion now that the princes have come to Beijing.

The rebellion of the Chu vassal and the treason caused by the Chu Zong case should finally be closed.

In the face of Zhu Changluo's great achievements, so many princes and important officials were dumbfounded and had to face the huge challenges Zhu Changluo threw at them.

The princes were settled in Nanjing!

"Why not? The Forbidden City in Nanjing is just sitting there unused. If we can make some changes, we can not only accommodate the kings, but also relieve the worries of the outer court about the construction of large buildings."

Ye Xianggao and Wang Xijue felt their scalps tingling.

Although the outer court of the Forbidden City in Beijing was built mainly with stone, a lot of wood was still required.

As the top symbol of the court, of course, one still wants to get some real big wood, but it is difficult.

The solution proposed by the emperor now is to modify the Forbidden City in Nanjing and turn it into the residence of the feudal princes.

Of course, the halls on the central axis that symbolize the imperial power need to be changed. Other places, at least in terms of regulations, are of the same standard.

If we modify and demolish the old buildings, won't we have the big timber? Then we can have the Zhayang Company and the Canal Army transport them to the north.

What a brutal project! The symbol of Nanjing is gone?
But this is not the big problem. The big problem is: if all these princes are placed in Nanjing, aren’t we afraid of future confrontations between the North and the South and civil unrest caused by the division of the territory?

"Who wants to support the Nanjing vassal king? Is it the Duke of Wei, the Yangtze River Navy, or the officials and gentry in Jiangnan?"

Zhu Changluo just asked this question and everyone gasped.

Ye Xianggao didn't know how big a stir this would cause.

Zhu Changluo snorted coldly, "Make it clear and clear. If the officials and gentry in Jiangnan can live in peace because of fear, I will have less worries. I have said it long ago, I wanted to have a few years of peace. The Chu vassal far away in Wuchang Prefecture can stir up trouble, and now they are so close, let's see if they still stir up trouble. If they don't cause trouble, they will know that I want peace and stability, and I will never meddle in other people's affairs!"

Tianle looked at the feudal lords and lowered his head.

Actually, it’s better for them to gather together.

After all, there is only one emperor, but there are so many vassal kings. Whose momentum is wrong, can the news be covered up so tightly?
It should be said that the most likely scenario is that something goes wrong with the army in Jiangnan, and then after a hasty conspiracy, the yellow robe is given to someone.

Later, of course, they had to do it all at once and kill most of the princes' entire families.

But if he really did that, regardless of the strength of the northern army, could such a brutal emperor keep his throne?
Of course, Tian Le was in the Privy Council, and he knew that the emperor did not consider this matter as a long-term strategy for hundreds of years, so situations where the world was in chaos and order completely collapsed did not need to be taken into consideration.

Now it is nothing more than a transitional resettlement, and extending the economic tentacles into the south of the Yangtze River through the royal family business he just mentioned.

The princes were not just kept in Nanjing. The royal family businesses were operated with Nanjing as the core.

By the way...if the symbolic significance of the Forbidden City in Nanjing is destroyed, will it also lay the groundwork for the future of Nanzhili? Wang Xijue and his people are not Tian Le, and they don't know that the Privy Council's plans are no longer limited to the Ming Dynasty.

In any case, Zhu Changluo's ideas were completely beyond the thinking of Wang Xijue, Ye Xianggao, Zhu Geng, and Shen Li.

At a time when the Chu-Fan case was just coming to an end and Emperor Wanli had just passed away, it was a very sensitive topic to relocate all the princes in the world to Nanjing.

The officials and gentry in Jiangnan were so afraid that they didn't even dare to touch it.

The emperor seemed to be just about to shout: Why don’t you try to tease me again?
God knows how many other arrangements accompany this practice.

It's like another Fengyang high wall. I don't know why the princes didn't react at all.

The royal palace, land, shops, and vassal power were all taken away!

Can the clan business that supports the entire clan really make them happy?

In their eyes at this moment, the princes accepted their fate after the Beijing camp army was led out.

The entire Ming Dynasty government and the people, especially those in the south of the Yangtze River and the places where there were previously vassal kings, had to adapt to the new situation.

Zhu Changluo said, "There are many things that need to be done. I still say what I said at the beginning of last year, take a good rest. As long as you don't cause trouble, I won't interfere. You see, all the princes have discussed this new method of vassalage with me, and they all think it is good."

"..."

Wang Xijue and others felt that the princes' words and expressions were somewhat insincere.

But they looked at the emperor and thought that the future management of the more than 100,000 hectares of land, which were originally granted to the royal family and later converted into land with salary, had become a new issue involving many provinces, prefectures, and counties.

The topic was brought up, and this was an area where Zhu Changluo was not prepared to back down.

"Originally, the government managed it as official land, and the tenants were either found by the royal palace or by the government. Now, it is nothing more than letting the common people found by the clan office to rent the land, and the tax management is still the same as before."

Wang Xijue thought about it and finally shut up.

Many royal and Zhelu farmlands are now rented by local gentry and then sublet to others for cultivation.

Now that the clan government has intervened, the emperor will of course look for the common people to rent the land directly. This will benefit the people, but it is tantamount to cutting off the local officials and gentry.

Zhu Guozuo was troubled by another thing: "Your Majesty, there are so many officials in the palace..."

The Ministry of Rites should take care of all these.

"From being a Jinshi to being a Juren, officials in the palace have no way to advance, and they are only greedy for money."

He looked at Li Dai, because the power to select people was in the Ministry of Personnel again: "Local officials and salaries are increased, the central government has added government offices, new businesses are set up under the clan government, provincial schools, clan schools... There are so many options, and we just have to figure out how to place them. There are many things to be busy with, and I don't have that much energy to always deal with the resentment of the gentry caused by the strict preferential treatment. If you don't settle down, the Beijing camp will continue to march for two or three years, and you can concentrate on your work."

Everyone was speechless.

After the death of the retired emperor, the emperor seemed to be devoted to development on the one hand, but on the other hand he seemed to be becoming increasingly impatient with the repeated provocations of the gentry.

Even the reform of the vassal system was vaguely linked to this incident.

If Jiangnan really flirted with the princes settled in Nanjing, it would be hard to say whether the Beijing troops would simply go over and kill them.

This matter is difficult to evaluate.

Every time the emperor releases a policy, it is like a beautiful woman undressing and flirting with you, but you have to remain calm.

The emperor's actions are big, but the gentry in Jiangnan and throughout the world have to be patient for now.

In fact, what bad intentions did Zhu Changluo have?
He just wanted to develop for a while, train for a while, and become stronger first.

How easy is it for the aging Ming Dynasty to rejuvenate itself?
Starting from the fourth year of Taichang, he once again established a new situation with the reform of the vassal system.

The Beijing troops that were sent to the local areas have not returned yet, and the focus of reform seems to have shifted from the gentry to the royal family.

The argument that someone wanted to rebel was still ringing in our ears, and now all the princes were going to live in Nanjing.

Zhang Juzheng was going to be enshrined in the Taimiao, and the new emperor proposed on this day that he should follow the example of the Privy Council and establish formal titles for the positions of prime minister in the Imperial Study, Jinxianyuan, Shizhiyuan, and Jianchayuan to encourage them to pacify the world and grow stronger.

Then the tone was set for this year's Beijing inspection: the main focus was on selecting virtuous and capable people and putting them in their proper positions. The theme of this year was not to engage in party struggles or emphasize demotion.

"You can't do this over and over again. Last year, I said we should consolidate the results first, but there was no need to make a big fuss. Now let's just change the vassal state and decide on the positions of the other four ministers. For the next three years, just focus on implementation. The localities should stop making trouble, and I will just focus on academic matters. What do you think, is this the way to go?"

"There is no better policy than this, and no one more wise than Your Majesty!" Ye Xianggao will be the official Minister of Culture as soon as he arrives here. He has already considered what the official title of this minister should be.

That's a real first-rank position!
From the first year of Taichang to the third year of Taichang, now it is from the fourth year of Taichang to the sixth year of Taichang.

Three years passed and Zhu Changluo felt that it was not easy.

In another three years, will the Ming Dynasty be strong enough?
When you are strong, there will be changes!

(End of this chapter)