Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 378: The royal family and vassal states actively reflected the shady practices of the civil servants, and the bureaucrats panicked!

"No, Your Majesty, do you really want to implement benevolent policies for the royal family and eliminate the malpractices of the royal family?"

Xia Congshou, the Left Governor of Henan, said this with a look of surprise after receiving the imperial edict from the court that would reward King Nanling generously and encourage other princes to actively offer their opinions.

"Can it be just a token of my appreciation?"

Right Governor Dong Chong asked back with a wry smile.

After Xia Congshou placed the edict on the desk, he stood up and looked outside. Seeing that there was no one outside, he turned back and said:
"But your majesty should understand that the money he used to implement benevolent policies for the royal family was taken from the rich people in the world! Taking the money from the rich to build the country is not a long-term solution!"

"What you said is right!"

"But whether your majesty understands it or not, if he really wants to be a wise and holy ruler who works hard to govern the country, implements benevolent policies, and reforms and eliminates abuses, can you and I still say that your majesty cannot do this?"

"cannot!"

Dong Chong answered sharply when he reached this point.

"Unless you really don't respect the teachings of the saints and only rule the country according to the legalists!"

"But who would dare to do such a thing?"

Dong Chong said at this point: "So, as long as Your Majesty really follows the sage ways that we scholars and officials have taught you and becomes a wise and holy ruler who works hard to govern the country and implements benevolent policies, we can only sing your praises!"

Xia Congshou nodded: "I understand! In any case, according to the teachings of the saints, self-denial and restoration of propriety should be regarded as benevolence."

Although Xia Congshou understood, he still felt uncomfortable when he thought that His Majesty's confidence in doing this was to deprive the gentry of their benefits and to harm the wealthy families throughout the world.

Dong Chong also felt uncomfortable.

This is just like the story of Ye Gong who loves dragons.

Even though the bureaucrats always say that they hope the emperor will reform old abuses and implement benevolent policies, they feel very uncomfortable when the emperor actually does so. Some even directly cry out in pain and criticize the emperor to express their dissatisfaction.

These situations have occurred in history. If the emperor does not work hard to govern the country, he will be scolded and accused of being obsessed with wine, sex, money and anger; if the emperor works hard to govern the country, he will also be scolded, saying that he has wronged the wealthy and is competing with the people for profit.

of course!

Although Xia Congshou and Dong Chong felt uncomfortable, they did not dare to openly go against the emperor's will.

Therefore, they followed the emperor's will and sent 5,000 silver dollars to Prince Nanling. They also informed the chief officials of the various princely palaces in Henan that the emperor wanted them to submit their opinions on the reform of the royal family.

"Your Majesty really wants to implement benevolent policies for us royal family members!"

"Instead of telling us about the generous reward, you want us to continue discussing the reform of the vassal states."

When King Zhou saw the reward from King Nanling and learned that the emperor had ordered everyone to actively submit reports, he truly believed in the emperor Jiajing's determination and spoke excitedly to King Nanling.

Prince Nanling also laughed and said, "Yes, the current emperor really has great ambitions to revive the country! Many previous examples have already proved this, and this time it has further confirmed this point!"

"That's right. In the past, the imperial court issued decrees to make every effort to govern the country, but in the end, they were just a lot of noise but little action. The imperial edicts to enthronize the emperor were written in a grandiose manner, making people infinitely fascinated, but in the end, they were basically not fulfilled, and even went the other way!"

"They said they were going to clean up the bureaucracy, but in the end it became even more corrupt!"

"They said they were going to improve people's livelihood, but in the end, it's even worse, with more refugees than in the previous dynasty!"

King Zhou couldn't help but speak.

Prince Nanling couldn't help but smirk and said, "My brother, you'd better be careful with your words. After all, this matter involves the late emperor's virtue!"

King Zhou smiled awkwardly: "My brother is right. I forgot my sense of propriety when I was overwhelmed by my feelings!"

The King of Zhou then personally wrote a report and elaborated on the four aspects of the royal family: reporting births, requesting marriages, prohibitions, and clan salaries.

The so-called birth report means that when a newborn baby appears in the clans and vassal states, it must be reported to the court, and then the court officials will record it in the Jade Book. According to the problems related to birth reports reported by King Zhou, many birth reports were not recognized by the officials, and the newborns of the clan would only be recognized as clan members if they paid money.

This means that many members of the royal family still have no names and are not archived, and are considered illegal residents. Due to corruption among officials, some people who are not members of the royal family have obtained royal family status and even titles by successfully reporting their births through bribery, while members of the royal family cannot obtain the status.

The same goes for marriage proposals. Because the bureaucratic system requires money before they are willing to acknowledge that the marriage proposal is a fact and not an exaggeration, many poor royal family members have not yet married. Many royal family men are still widows in their thirties and forties, and some royal family women, such as princesses and county ladies, are still without a groom in their twenties or thirties.

Besides.

Because the imperial court had too many prohibitions against royal relatives, many common people were unwilling to marry royal sons or daughters, and some would rather bribe officials to avoid marriage selection than marry someone from the royal family.

Because those who were related to the royal family could not have their children come to Beijing to serve as officials, this led to serious marriage problems for many royal family members.

As for the prohibitions, in addition to the one mentioned above which has affected the marriage rate of the royal family, other prohibitions also have a serious impact on the royal family.

For example, members of the royal family were not allowed to leave the palace, resulting in them being oppressed and bullied by officials and being unable to report it.

After all, memorials submitted by the royal family and vassal states were also forwarded through the bureaucratic system of the chief secretary and the provincial governor, which resulted in many memorials suing local governments being intercepted.

Furthermore, members of the royal family were not allowed to engage in any occupation, which resulted in many of them being idle and trouble-making all day long. They were also forced to beg or even sell their bodies to make a living because their salaries were not paid.

As for the rice allowance, the problem of underpayment and uneven distribution was very serious.

The close relatives of the royal family, that is, those who have a close relationship with the emperor and those who are willing to go along with the local bureaucrats and gentry, will receive relatively sufficient rice in salary.

However, distant clan members, that is, clan members with distant relationships with the emperor and clan members who were unwilling to go along with local bureaucrats and gentry, would be owed money or have their banknotes severely reduced.

In short.

The problems reflected by King Zhou are indeed many real problems that the royal family does have now.

He did not hide the truth just because he was a member of a royal family of higher status or because he was afraid of the bureaucrats and gentry. He was truly willing to cooperate with Emperor Jiajing to carry out a thorough reform of the royal family!
"What does King Zhou want to do!"

"Want to rebel?!"

"What do you mean by giving money means that the royal family will not be widowed, and not giving money means that the unregistered are widowed? What do you mean by colluding with the bureaucrats means that you have enough food, and not colluding with the bureaucrats means that you have to beg for food? Can you say these things?"

When Prince Zhou's memorial reached the Henan Provincial Government, the officials there were furious.

After breaking through the defense, the Right Governor Dong Chong slammed the table and started asking questions angrily on the spot.

The Left Councillor Shao Huai echoed, "It must be intercepted! This book cannot be published!"

"I have to go!"

"The emperor has also been a vassal king. He is not unaware of these things. If the truth reflected by the vassal kings is not heard by the emperor, Your Majesty will be able to see it, so we must report it truthfully!"

"Also, quickly distribute all the unpaid rice, and try to set an example! Otherwise, His Majesty will doubt our loyalty!"

Xia Congshou said.

Dong Chongdao nodded.

"But whether to issue the money or not is not up to us. It's up to the local wealthy families to decide!"

"How much money and grain there is in the provincial treasury and how much can be taken out is decided by the clerks, and these clerks all listen to the wealthy families!"

"If we forcefully check the provincial treasury to distribute the rice, there might be a fire dragon burning the warehouse or a serious deficit, which would make the court unhappy!"

Shao Huai said with embarrassment.

After hearing this, Xia Congshou sighed and said, "Okay!"

(End of this chapter)