Ancestors, please don't crawl out again.

Chapter 45: Grandpa is having a seizure again
It should be said that this is the fastest way to end the civil strife in the Ming Dynasty.

Isn't it just the Lich King!
It’s not like he hasn’t been recruited before, he just thought the official position he was given was too low.

Of course, from the official position given to him, it can be seen that the Ming Dynasty court actually had no intention of recruiting him.

For the high-ranking officials of the Ming Dynasty, a mere bandit, desperate and willing to surrender, was spared the three thousand six hundred sword blows, a great favor from the imperial court. And he still wanted an official position? Official positions are not obtained in this way. If one could become an official by committing murder and arson and then being recruited, wouldn't everyone follow suit?

rule.

You have to follow the rules.

If you want to be an official, you have to follow the right path.

But now if these vassal kings want to recruit others, the price they offer cannot be low.

After all, they do have real troops, and you have nothing but a title. Why should we fight for you without making enough promises?

You can't be the only one who wants to recruit us.

If Zhang Xianzhong really wanted to, he could just find a member of the royal family who had not been killed by him, and then come out and announce that he had surrendered to the court and wanted to serve the country!

But this had nothing to do with Yang Feng. He had already set the rules, and within them, these clans could do whatever they wanted. Whoever recaptured the capital first would be the new emperor. They could recruit bandits as thugs, recruit their own troops, or form an alliance with the southwestern chieftains. Many of the southwestern chieftains could not be considered the Four Barbarians. After all, most of them actually considered themselves Han Chinese. No matter how modern people categorize them, most of them considered themselves Han Chinese. The Ma family of Shizhu, the Ran family of Youyang, even the already eliminated Yang family of Bozhou and the Song family of Shuidong, all considered themselves Han Chinese.

In addition to these big chieftains, there were also a large number of small chieftains who considered themselves Han people, and some of them were actually Ming army officers appointed by Zhu Yuanzhang.

For example, when She Chongming rebelled, the Ren family, the chief of the Nine Surnames Chieftainship, defended the court to the death.

His ancestral home is in Nanjing. He followed Fu Youde to pacify the southwest. Because he was familiar with the local conditions, he was directly appointed as a hereditary chieftain to manage the ancient Song Dynasty.

There are many similar ones.

Zhu Yuanzhang's system was very cunning. The official garrisons and chieftains were mixed together, so mixed that the Yongning Xuanfu Division and the Yongning Garrison were actually one city, separated by a small river. Under the big chieftain were a bunch of small chieftains who were only subordinate to him but had no power of appointment. Moreover, many of the small chieftains were actually families of former Ming army officers.

Such open garrisons, secret small chieftains and the big chieftains who considered themselves Han people eventually locked down the southwest.

As for what happened next...

Later, the emperor could not even control the local gentry, let alone the chieftains.

When the tax collectors and mining supervisors of the Wanli period were beaten to death, burned to death, thrown into the river and drowned by the gentry instigated by the people, and were framed as bandits and thrown into prison and killed by local governors like Li Sancai, why should the chieftains in the southwest still act like good boys?
When the imperial court's executive power is strong enough, even wild boar skin will have to kneel at Li Chengliang's feet.

When the imperial court lacks executive power...

Yang Yinglong: How could it be that I, with my powerful army, am not as good as the local gentry?

This system of whoever enters the capital first becomes the emperor will give all the chaotic forces hope of becoming his loyal subjects. Those who are truly powerful, even if they have ambitions, will be restricted by the terrifying Emperor Taizu Gao and must abandon their ambitions. After all, no one can change the dynasty under the suppression of Emperor Taizu Gao. But as long as they support a member of the Zhu family and push him to the throne, they can become the next Duke of Wei.

The emperor was at a loss for words.

But it is entirely possible to become the Duke of Wei with some effort.

In this way, those who have the ability to cause chaos will find a direction for the future...

There is no future in rebellion.

But he could follow the dragon, and even becoming the Duke of Wei was already the dream of many forces. After all, the Duke of Wei had enjoyed wealth and glory for three hundred years. Even among those who really became emperors, how many families could enjoy wealth and glory for three hundred years?
In the past thirty years, some clans have been wiped out.

The royal family members who also have such ambitions, because their own strength is too weak, will not hesitate to offer various prices in order to gain support, and use benefits to bribe these people to the maximum extent and give them the future they want. In this competition process, the imperial power will inevitably be subject to various restrictions according to the various conditions they put forward, and even a system close to the primary constitutional monarchy will be formed, and they can even be left with the Taizu Covenant in the end.

As for whether Han Xin would like this system...

Not only was the imperial power restricted at that time, but even the first unified dynasty had just been overthrown by them!
What is their worldview?
If a gentleman treats me as a gentleman, I should repay him as a gentleman. If a gentleman treats me as a gentleman, I will die for his friend.

Zhang Yi from Wei State could become the prime minister of Qin State, then go to Chu State to cheat people, and finally become the prime minister of Wei State until his death.

As for the emperor?

This is what a man should do.

He can replace it.

The royal family members in front of Chengtian Gate quickly realized that the throne was not far away from them.

Especially someone like Prince Huai, you have to know that he has hundreds of thousands of young and strong men who have just experienced a great war.

If he could arm these young and strong men, he could almost have a legion directly, especially since he also had a group of clansmen who had experienced war, so he would even have an officer corps. No matter how good these clans were, those who could survive on the front line of the Shimen battlefield were no longer trash. Trash could not survive there at all, even if Taizu was resurrected. Taizu would not be resurrected immediately, and the real trash would die in the first wave, and some would even be trampled into rotten meat in the chaotic battlefield.

But he needed to make these people willing to follow him in the Northern Expedition.

King Yi was also very excited. He did not have a legion that could be built quickly, but the problem was that he had silver.

Most of his property is there.

As for the source of soldiers, there was no shortage of brave mountain people in southern Jiangxi and western Fujian. His Prince Yi's palace was in Nancheng, and to the south from him was Ruijin.

"The minister obeys the order!"

Prince Huai and Prince Yi shouted almost at the same time.

After shouting, they immediately looked at each other with a deep gaze.

"The minister obeys the order."

Then King Nanyang also shouted.

Regardless of whether the other members of the royal family had this ambition or not, they all hurriedly shouted that they would obey the order.

"Everyone, stand up. However, I must make it clear that this is your business. You are not allowed to force the people. If you need money, you can find a way to raise it yourself, but it is illegal to impose levies on the people. You are also not allowed to conscript men. Conscripting men is also illegal. As for the local troops, you can mobilize them, but you will be responsible for the military expenses. You have no right to mobilize local officials, let alone ask them to raise money and food for you. You can spend money to buy them, but you cannot ask for them."

Yang Feng said.

Just ignore the fact that he recruited hundreds of thousands of men at once.

In this way, he threw the task of the Northern Expedition to recapture the capital to these royal family members. As for what Emperor Taizu Gao himself had to do...

night.

"This……"

Yang Feng looked at the reward number in his hand with a serious expression.

The twin brother and sister who had been adopted by Emperor Taizu Gao were lying beside the table and watching curiously.

"Grandpa, these soldiers and civilians have already received their silver, so there's no need for this land, right?"

Han Zanzhou said cautiously.

The 20 million spent by Emperor Taizu Gao was just a reward for participating in the war.

but……

"This is military merit. I have already issued an edict granting land and titles based on military merit. How can it be abandoned after the first battle? Silver cannot be used to reward military merit, and military merit cannot be measured by money. Soldiers will fight to the death. Silver has a price, but life is priceless."

Emperor Taizu Gao said after a moment of hesitation.

"Grandpa, in fact, to them, their lives are not worth even a hundred taels."

Han Zanzhou said.

Emperor Taizu was a bit too generous. After spending 20 million to reward the participants in the Battle of Shimen, he also had to give them legal rewards according to the new military merit system.

Land was granted for military merit.

Behead one level and be rewarded with 100 acres of land.

If a person is beheaded at level five, he will be granted 500 mu of land and one level of nobility.

With only one level of nobility, one can enter the Ministry of Personnel to be selected as a ninth-rank official, or delegate the selection to someone designated by him.

The silver given before was not a reward for military merit. There is no silver in the military merit reward. Soldiers have military pay and war subsidies, but they are not given silver and are directly awarded land for beheading. The Battle of Shimen was a gift from Taizu, a special gift, not a regular reward, but the problem is that they have already received heavy rewards, so there is no need to give them military merit rewards, right?

Of course, giving it wasn't a big deal. After all, Taizu could give it whenever he wanted. But the problem was that there were too many. The beheadings from the Battle of Shimen and the previous battles added up to nearly 100,000. The Battle of Shimen alone accounted for 54,000, which meant that 10 million acres of land needed to be granted. And this was only for the beheadings; it didn't include the craftsmen who made weapons, the civilians who transported military supplies, and even the women who made military uniforms, which also counted towards military merit. The King of Qi and his cabinet were mainly responsible for this work.

Including these, there are at least 15 million acres of land granted.

Where to find these lands?
"Master Taizu, I do have a suggestion. If you really want to fulfill your promise, why not find some wasteland in the Fengyang area and give it to them? After all, they have already received the silver, so this land is already a bonus. The land along the Huai River has been abandoned for a long time, but it was indeed fertile land in the past and is all recorded in the Yellow Book. This way, it will not be considered a breach of promise. If they are willing to reclaim the wasteland, it will be their fertile land. If they are not willing, it will still be in their name. In the future, when the family has more people and divides it up, they can go there to reclaim it.

If that's the case, we won't have to worry about this anymore. There are countless wastelands in the north, tens of millions of acres."

He continued.

"Let's not talk about this for now. We'll talk about it later. As for this time, it's just a small matter. Pass on my decree. In Nanzhili, Zhejiang, and Jiangxi provinces, anyone who has more than 100 acres of land must have military merit. Those without military merit cannot own more than 100 acres of land. Regardless of whether the land was theirs before, now that I'm here, they must follow my rules. Only those with military merit can own more than 100 acres of land. Those without military merit will have their land deeds invalidated, and the excess land will be taken back by the court as a reward for military merit.

But I am not unreasonable. I also give them a chance. They can donate land in exchange for military merit. Donating 100 acres of land will exchange for one level of military merit, and they can keep 200 acres of land. 100 acres is the maximum limit for those who have no military merit, and the other 100 acres is a reward for military merit."

Yang Feng said this obviously happily.

Han Zanzhou gasped, then stared at Grandpa Taizu in amazement...

So, he did it on purpose, right?

(End of this chapter)