Ancestors, please don't crawl out again.

Chapter 44 The Gods' Unreasonable Troublemaking

Therefore, the Confucian scholars were all very sensible people. After they were convinced that Emperor Taizu Gao was someone they could not fight against, they shouted "Long live the emperor" without hesitation.

Long live, long live, long live!
After all, they had shouted this at Emperor Taizu Gao before.

As for whether this Emperor Taizu Gao was real or fake...

That was never the point.

They don't care whether it's true or not.

It doesn't matter whether it's true or false, they all have to cheer long live the emperor. So what if it's fake? It's enough that the huge rock as big as a hill that he used as a meteor hammer is real, and it's enough that he can make people be tortured to death twenty-six times. They cheer long live the emperor to the alien race, to the tyrant, and of course to the Emperor Taizu Gao, including the fake Emperor Taizu Gao.

Chengtianmen.

"Almost enough."

Yang Feng looked at the royal family members who were kneeling outside.

A total of 8,700 royal family members, including women and children, all knelt on the Imperial Street south of Wulong Bridge, and even lined up all the way to Hongwu Gate.

The leaders were the Prince of Huai, Prince of Yi, and Prince of Tang. He had already prepared to march south to Fujian, but on the way, he learned that Emperor Taizu Gao was coming, so he stopped in Quzhou to wait. There was no such thing as him abandoning his fiefdom, because he was not one of those who abandoned his fiefdom. Previously, Prince of Tang was his younger brother, and because he had taken the initiative to lead troops to defend the emperor, he was deposed and imprisoned in Fengyang by Chongzhen, and then replaced by his younger brother. However, his younger brother died after Li Zicheng captured Nanyang, and he was released by Hongguang's decree and then re-ennobled as Prince of Nanyang and moved to Guangxi.

So strictly speaking, he is not even the King of Tang now, but only the King of Nanyang, and his fiefdom is in Guangxi, but he has not yet moved there.

Too poor.

No money to go.

But at present, there are only a few people left in the Tang clan, headed by him.

As for Prince Lu, he had already been sentenced to death by Emperor Taizu. He was indeed an abandoned vassal. His situation was similar to that of Prince Lu. Both of them fled without fighting when facing Li Zicheng's army.

So since Prince Lu was sentenced to death, he must also be sentenced to death.

Among all the vassal princes, the only one who remained intact was Prince Yi. Prince Huai also lost a large number of his clan members in the Battle of Shimen. In addition, a large number of clan members from the Ning Wang system in Nanchang were also killed. Therefore, Yang Feng, who could have gathered 10,000 clan members, ended up with insufficient numbers due to his excessive spending. There was also another intact vassal prince, the Jingjiang Prince family, but this was not a descendant of Zhu Yuanzhang, so it did not count. In short, with the intact Yi Prince family, the broken Huai Prince family, and the scattered exiled clan members from other vassal states, Yang Feng currently had 8,700 people.

However, it is also easy to leave 1,300 people, because currently only Jiangxi, Nanzhili, and Zhejiang have surrendered to Emperor Taizu Gao.

If Huguang is also resolved, then we can gather some more people. Although Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng killed all the vassal states of Huguang quite ruthlessly, there are still some survivors...

Otherwise, how could King Min have such a famous descendant?
Besides, the King of Gui was still in Guangxi, but at that time he was still Zhu Changying. He abandoned the city and fled when Zhang Xianzhong attacked Hengyang, so he was also sentenced to death.

But his son didn't need it.

But it was still not Zhu Youlang's turn, because his brother was the next to succeed to the throne.

In short, Huguang can definitely gather these 1,300 royal family members.

But there is still a problem that needs to be solved, that is, the descendants of Chongzhen.

"Aren't you being a bit unreasonable? You set the rules, and they can be changed. Why do you have to have this descendant of Chongzhen?

Can't I just not have it?
As far as I know, the only one still alive is his daughter with the broken arm, right?
Do you have any special feelings for his daughter with a broken arm?"

Yang Feng asked the so-called god.

"This is non-negotiable. She must be present, unless she is killed by Dorgon."

replied the latter.

"Be good, don't be unreasonable."

Yang Feng said.

"No, this is necessary."

replied the latter.

……

"Okay, I'll see if I can get it."

In the end, Yang Feng was unable to change the bastard's unreasonable behavior.

"What to do with these?"

Han Xin said.

"You don't want to kill them all after you're done with them, do you?"

Yang Feng, who knew him quite well, said in some surprise.

"Killing them is indeed not good. After all, it is not proper for Taizu to kill his descendants. However, according to the previous royal family rules, these people are not only useless but also waste money and food. The people all have complaints about them. Keeping them will not only make the people unhappy, but also still cost money and food."

Han Xin said.

During this time, he focused on learning, especially the various systems of the Ming Dynasty, including the language and customs, and gradually began to adapt to the times. After all, he was now the Prime Minister of the Ming Dynasty, and he had already begun to cooperate with those officials. Gao Hongtu, Xie Xuelong, and others had already begun working under the leadership of Prime Minister Qi Wang, and their work was quite good. After all, these guys were actually old foxes, they knew everything. Although Qi Wang's ideas were somewhat out of date, especially the gap between him and Confucianism, they were not as unreasonable as Emperor Taizu Gao.

You can still reason with him.

It was impossible to reason with Emperor Taizu Gao, who was like a madman. The King of Qi was just too far away from him, but he wasn't a madman. He just loved cooking people.

He has cooked a lot in Nanjing during this period.

"That's easy. After we're done, we can change the rules for the royal family. Those who stay in the interior will have no titles or salaries. Although they are listed in the royal family's jade book, they are actually commoners. Those who want titles and salaries will be stationed in the frontiers. Zhu's system was originally to send vassal kings to the frontiers. Even places that don't seem to be frontiers now were no different from frontiers in his time. He seized them all by force from other forces, and the long-term wars made the area sparsely populated. He sent his son to suppress the local people. At the same time, he used the vassal kings to immigrate. When he conquered Sichuan, there were only tens of thousands of households in the entire province. He appointed a King of Shu and forcibly immigrated nearly 20,000 households there.

Therefore, if one wanted a title and salary, fiefdoms would be established on the frontier. This also applies to the future when people with other surnames are granted titles. All titles must be granted on the frontier.

And a large number of titles should be conferred.

Moreover, the fiefs granted to these nobles must be cultivated. If they are abandoned, it would be considered as deceiving the emperor. Not only would the title be revoked, but the person would also be beheaded.

Of course, they can choose not to go to their fiefdoms and instead serve as officials in the imperial court, but the fiefdoms they were given cannot be wasted. After all, giving them fiefdoms is a gift from the emperor. To abuse the emperor's gift like this is clearly disrespectful to the emperor. This is enough to kill the entire family."

Yang Feng said with a smile.

This would force those who obtained titles to develop the frontiers at their own expense.

After all, those with titles are high-ranking officials. They are not short of money. They have various means to make money, but if they want to continue to be officials, they have to keep their titles, and to keep their titles they can only spend money to develop the frontier.

Of course, this still involves specific operational issues. After all, they have various means to deal with it, but no matter what, this will eventually allow them to develop the frontier.

It’s just like the salt merchants’ Kaizhong system.

The binding of interests forces those who want to profit to develop the frontier.

Han Xin nodded, obviously satisfied with this design. After all, it was he and not Yang Feng who would stay in the future. But since Yang Feng was the Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, it was equivalent to giving the royal family the halo of a divine ancestor, making them a special identity similar to the descendants of saints. In this way, it would be difficult for him, an outsider, to touch the royal family even if he was the prime minister. After all, he was commissioned by the Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty. If he did anything against the royal family, it would be a bit like a slave bullying his master.

Yang Feng has to solve this problem first.

After the two men finished discussing the royal family issue, they immediately turned their attention to the royal family outside the city. The latter had no idea that they were discussing how to trick them, and they still waited with their heads down in fear.

"I originally established feudal lords with the intention of protecting the imperial family. But now, not only have all the vassal kings been driven into the interior, but they are also all weak and incompetent, being slaughtered like pigs and sheep by the Qing monsters and bandits. I am deeply distressed. You are all my descendants. Although I was a bit harsh, I am also very sad that only these few people are left out of the 200,000 royal family members. I forced those royal family members to go to the battlefield at Shimen, and watching them being slaughtered by the Qing monsters without any strength, my heart is also broken!"

Yang Feng said with deep emotion.

His words made the descendants below burst into tears of gratitude, and some even cried.

"Therefore, the future emperor must be a capable warrior. I have been in heaven for a long time and am considered one of the immortals. I cannot always watch over the country from below. I must establish a new emperor and ask the King of Qi to stay and help.

The choice of this new monarch depends on your abilities.

The method is actually very simple. You all should find a way to march north, and whoever reaches the capital first will be the emperor."

He went on to say.

The royal family members below were all dumbfounded.

Northern Expedition?

What did they use to fight the Northern Expedition?
"Emperor Taizu, if we were to launch a northern expedition, could we use the troops from the capital?"

Prince Huai said cautiously.

You know, he seems to have the best chance of becoming the new king right now.

"No, this is the Imperial Camp, for the Emperor. Whoever is the Emperor can mobilize the Imperial Camp, and you are to decide who is the Emperor. As long as you march north, whoever recaptures the capital from the Qing demons first will be the Emperor. He will inherit the Imperial Camp and gain the support of the King of Qi and the court. At that time, no matter who dares to oppose, the Imperial Camp can be mobilized to wipe them out."

Yang Feng said with a smile.

"Emperor Taizu, if I raise my own troops, can I pacify the bandits?"

King of Nanyang or the original future Longwu.

This issue was very sensitive, and many members of the royal family looked at him with gloating satisfaction.

however……

"can."

Yang Feng said it very straightforwardly.

Those members of the royal family were stunned.

"Except the four barbarians, you can use anyone, including bandits. Even if you have the ability to recruit Zhang Xianzhong and ask him to help you recapture the capital, that's fine. I've said before that their rebellion was not their fault, but the fault of the court. I rebelled because I was starving to death. Your ancestors started their careers that way. So when they are about to starve to death, any citizen of the Ming Dynasty has the right to rebel.

Rebellion is not a crime.

On the contrary, the imperial court that failed to save the people from hunger and cold, causing them to starve to death, is guilty.

Rather than being a starving corpse, we should be like a praying mantis. Yes, between being a starving corpse and being a praying mantis, the people have the right to be a praying mantis.

Therefore, if you have the ability to recruit Zhang Xianzhong, I can also pardon him."

He continued.

(End of this chapter)