The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 230: Immigration
On August 15, the 43rd year of Xianning, at the royal family and vassal state court meeting, the emperor asked Zhu Jianxuan to announce the imperial edict on the abolition and relocation of the vassal states, and then announced the end of the court meeting.

The emperor and the crown prince left one after another, and dozens of other princes and vassal kings breathed a sigh of relief.

The princes of the royal family in the mainland were still quite cautious and did not dare to make noises or talk in the hall, and this incident had nothing to do with them.

However, the overseas vassal kings had long been accustomed to the status of being the ruler of a country and did not have so many concerns.

After the emperor left, the princes gathered in twos and threes, and walked out of the hall slowly, discussing in low voices:

"As the legend goes, the Crown Prince's solution is indeed to move to a fiefdom, and it was announced by His Majesty himself..."

"We don't have to worry anymore, but we have to start to worry..."

"What do you think? Should we remove the fiefdom or transfer it?"

"It would be fine if we live in Yingtian Prefecture. A salary of 100,000 silver notes is not too little."

"This Shuntian Prefecture is like a military camp. There is not a single civilian in the city. All those who can breathe are working in the government office."

"Even the chef who cooks the meals is an employee of the Royal Merchant!"

"On the contrary, we, the royal family, have no power or influence in this city. If Your Majesty doesn't take care of us, we may be bullied by the officials."

"In the past, when we were overseas, we were at least the rulers of a country. But when we arrived in Shuntian Prefecture, we became rulers of a fallen country."

"It would be better to be a king in Africa than to be a prince like this."

"Who says it's not true? If we can build a royal palace in the local prefecture capital like Chongzhen did before, that would be fine."

"What good things are you thinking? The rules before Chongzhen were gone during the Chongzhen period. We royal family members can only gain power by opening up wasteland overseas."

"This is not a transfer of fiefdom, this is to open up wasteland, just like the Chongzhen period..."

"That being said, we still have to go. After Chongzhen, the titles of the royal family in the mainland were to be reduced, and after the fifth mourning period, they would be directly deported and become commoners."

"Even if we can accept it, our descendants won't be able to accept it..."

"The weather in Africa... should be similar to that in Southeast Asia. We are used to it in Southeast Asia, so we shouldn't have any problems with the climate in Africa."

"Hey - let's go, let's go -"

The way of thinking of a vassal prince who has served as a king is very different from that of a prince who has not yet established a country.

Most of the monarchs of the Nanyang vassal states grew up in Nanyang. They had long been accustomed to life in Nanyang and had not experienced life in their home country for a long time.

Having been a powerful king for many years and accustomed to being the only one in charge of the country, it is difficult for him to give up his existing status and power.

Moreover, the princes not only have to consider themselves, but also the thoughts of their adult children and grandchildren. A rash decision to withdraw the princely fiefdom and stay in Beijing may lead to a rift between father and son.

Although Africa is a more distant overseas, Southeast Asia is not a good place either...

Even though some vassal kings' current fiefdoms in Southeast Asia are not very good, they still hope to choose new fiefdoms after arriving in Africa, and that the new fiefdoms will be better than the original ones.

As a result, of the existing 33 overseas vassal kings, only four eventually withdrew their fiefdoms, and the remaining 29 decided to continue to open up wasteland in Africa.

On August 19, the 43rd year of Xianning, the Ming Emperor Zhu Zhonglin once again held a court meeting in the Wuying Hall and summoned all the foreign monarchs in the Ming Dynasty.

The titles of duke, marquis and earl granted by Chongzhen were only of three types. The duke titles were given using single-character country names, while the marquis and earl titles were given using two-character titles, which were mostly place names or regional names.

There is no distinction between county earl and state earl, and there are no titles for sons and men.

All the foreign vassal states were originally headed by five native dukes: Zheng Zhilong, Duke of Fujian, Zhang Xianzhong, Duke of Shu, Li Dingguo, Duke of Yu, Zuo Liangyu, Duke of E, and Mu Tianbo, Duke of Qian.

Now the Duke of E was deposed for obstructing the Northern Expedition, and the Marquis of Huainan was promoted for his meritorious service in the Northern Expedition, so he is still the fifth Duke.

During the middle period of the Chongzhen reign, there were some small vassal states at the level of marquis and earl in Nanzhili, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hunan and other places, and their original monarchs were local aristocratic families.

It was after Chongzhen moved south that he sealed off these local tyrants in order to rebuild and control the Nanjing court.

After the middle of the Chongzhen period, his authority grew, and he gradually gained control of more military power. In addition, the Nanyang region was gradually opened up.

Chongzhen half-coerced and half-forced these weak small and medium-sized vassal states to move to Southeast Asia.

The imperial court controlled most of the southern Zhili area south of the Huai River, and most of Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hunan, and Guangdong. However, the fiefdoms were vast, and the large vassal towns that controlled a large number of troops were really difficult to deal with.

Now we finally have the chance to do something to them.

The old emperor took the throne and asked Zhu Jianxuan to announce the decree again.

First, it was officially announced that the Duke of E and the Earl of Huai'an were unforgivable for obstructing the Northern Expedition and colluding with the Qing invaders. They would be stripped of their titles and punished, and the parties involved would be executed, and their family members would be subject to lifelong labor.

Then it was announced that the prince of the Duke of Min and the Marquis of Huainan had made great contributions in assisting the Northern Expedition. The prince of the Duke of Min, Zheng Ruian, was granted the title of Earl of Zhou, and the Marquis of Huainan was promoted to Duke of Wan.

Finally, it was announced that no more feudal lords would be retained in the mainland and Southeast Asia, and all existing feudal lords would be withdrawn or relocated to Africa.

The conditions for withdrawing and relocating the fiefdoms were similar to those for the princes of the imperial clan.

The existing fiefdom’s finances and population will be used to support the construction of the new fiefdom, but the support period will be shorter than that of the royal family.

The term of office for ordinary vassal states was ten years, which decreased by ten percent each year starting from the 44th year of Xianning.

With special approval from the meritorious vassal state, the Duke of Wan will be supported by the Hubei Provincial Administration Office for a period of twenty years.

The Duke of Min was supported by his existing fiefdom for a period of thirty years.

The court provided the Duke with a division of new rifles, the Marquis with a brigade of new rifles, and the Count with a regiment of new rifles.

Zhu Jianxuan also gave everyone three days to consider whether to withdraw or relocate the fiefdom.

The choices made by the vassal states of other surnames were more decisive than those of the royal family. They all decided to move to Africa to explore new areas, and none of them decided to stay.

Even if the princes of the royal family were stripped of their fiefdoms, they were still the most noble people in the world in name.

It is different for these foreign vassal states. After the abolition of the feudal system, not only will they be under pressure from a group of royal princes, but more importantly, there will also be a group of new nobles with real power.

These old nobles would never be trusted in the new court, nor would they have the chance to gain real power.

In the future, his life in the capital would definitely be inadvertently squeezed out by the new nobles, and he might even be deliberately suppressed and persecuted to make him make mistakes so that his title could be completely deprived.

Therefore, the foreign vassal states dared not choose to withdraw their fiefdoms.

After the court's arrangements and the vassal's decisions were finalized, the court began to handle the procedures for transferring the vassal and enthroning the governor.

The Imperial Clan Court and the Ministry of Rites reminded them that although the imperial edict
By September, the official procedures of the court were completed and the vassal states received the new enthronement edict.

Then, no matter whether it was a relocation or a withdrawal of the fiefdom, they all hurriedly left the capital and returned to their current fiefdoms, and immediately began to prepare for "moving".

Zhu Jianxuan's brothers were newly established vassal states, and they were clan vassal states of the imperial court. The first city would be the royal capital, which would be built with the assistance of the imperial court.

Their tax support will be calculated from the day the royal capital is established, so there is no need to rush to build the royal capital as soon as possible.

They have no real power or resources, so it's useless even if they are anxious.

The tax support for ordinary vassal states was calculated directly from the 44th year of Xianning, regardless of whether or not cities or settlements were established.

Subsequent tax support will decline rapidly.

Therefore, the largest-scale construction should be carried out when there is the most tax support in the early stage.

That is to start immigration as soon as possible.

They first had to organize a group of elite troops, wait for the court's notification to go to the designated location to collect equipment, and then escort the first batch of immigrants to the new fiefdom.

The first to take action was the Duke of Min.

The Duke of Min's Mansion once arranged 30,000 troops, led by Zheng Ruian, to participate in the Northern Expedition.

They were stationed on Jeju Island, received training from Zhu Jianxuan's main division, had been equipped with new rifles and equipment, and later participated in some small-scale battles.

Now Zhu Jianxuan directly ordered 30,000 people to return to the Duke of Min’s Mansion with their equipment, and they can set off by boat at any time.

After returning to Quanzhou, Duke of Min Zheng Haikang immediately assembled his family's armed merchant fleet and organized the first group of immigrants to go to Africa to open up wasteland.

(End of this chapter)