Chongzhen Wiretapping System

Chapter 244
In a year of severe drought, there may not have been a major locust plague.Even if it is suitable for locust breeding, you only need to plow the ground once and turn it over to kill the locust eggs buried in the soil.

However, in the severe drought at this time in the late Ming Dynasty, people would starve to death because they could not survive, or become thieves, so no one took these preventive measures, so that locusts became a plague.In the last years of Chongzhen, there were locust plagues almost every year, which made food worse.

This reason, when Emperor Chongzhen arrived in Xi'an, he had already figured it out.Because of this, it made him feel that the thieves' rebellion must be put down as soon as possible, otherwise the situation would only get worse and worse under the vicious circle.

The original history shows that there are many accidental factors in the demise of the dynasty.However, through traveling through this period of time, especially after leaving the capital, Emperor Chongzhen had already deeply realized that Daming could not sustain it anymore.Even if it wasn't Chongzhen's demise in 17 years, it is probably only a matter of Chongzhen's 19th or [-]th year.

The army rested in Xi'an Mansion for two days before heading south again.During this period, Emperor Chongzhen personally went to the vassal palace and met with Zhu Cunshu, the King of Qin who was granted a title in Xi'an.

This meeting, Zhu Cunshu can be said to be trembling.

They, the vassals, knew about the matter of King Rui.If it is said that King Rui is a vassal king, it is possible to be unreasonable to the civil and military officials of the Ming Dynasty, and it is also possible to make a fuss when his land rent is robbed.However, it is basically impossible to say that King Rui colluded with the bandits and wanted to rebel.

However, the fact today is that the crime that the court placed on King Rui was colluding with the bandits and conspiring against him.Not only did King Rui's family no longer have any splendor and wealth, King Rui himself "hanged himself" to death.

King Qin was very clear about this. The fundamental reason was that King Rui didn't want to spend money and food.But this time the emperor came in person and wanted to summon him to see him. He also knew that it was probably about money and food.

Sure enough, after seeing him, Emperor Chongzhen first talked to him about how Taizu rose up from the humble beginnings, won the world after untold hardships, and established the foundation of the Ming Dynasty forever.At the end, Emperor Chongzhen sighed: "This great Ming country is hard-won!"

After hearing this, King Qin couldn't help but slander in his heart, the Great Ming Dynasty is hard-won, but it's not like his lineage is in charge of the world!But on the surface, he certainly agrees.

Seeing this, Emperor Chongzhen said to the King of Qin again: "Nowadays, the Ming Dynasty has internal and external troubles. You are in the Qin land. You should be more familiar with the civil uprisings in these years than I am. They will last for a long time. In the long run, the country and society of the Ming Dynasty are worrying. As the descendants of Taizu, we all have the responsibility to maintain the inheritance left by our ancestors, right?"

"It's a fart, that's your business, okay?" Qin Wang thought in his heart, but on the surface he was submissive and didn't say much.

Emperor Chongzhen looked at him, not knowing what he was thinking, suddenly sneered and said: "Unfortunately, some vassal kings can't recognize this, and they don't even think about it. If the position of the king can continue to sit, can they continue to enjoy the glory and wealth without worry? Do you think I am wrong?"

After hearing this, King Qin was finally stunned.To be honest, he really hasn't thought about this.After listening to this, I finally realized that the safety of the Ming Dynasty was indeed related to these vassal kings!

"Yes, Your Majesty is right!" This time, King Qin finally looked into Emperor Chongzhen's eyes and replied quickly.

After hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen smiled and said, "I know that many feudal lords have doubts about the Daming Royal Bank. I feel that I am actually stealing money by exchanging the bank notes and food coupons issued by the Daming Royal Bank for money and food. It is wrong to have this idea, who am I, the majestic Emperor of Ming Dynasty, how could he do such a thing, don’t you think so?”

"..." Qin Wang was speechless, thinking in his heart, is the emperor talking about himself?He quickly replied, "Your Majesty, there is absolutely no such thing!"

"Actually, those who are not in the capital have doubts about Daming Royal Bank, I understand." Emperor Chongzhen shook his head and said, "But since I pass by here, I can chat with you, this Daming Royal Bank The bank notes and food stamps issued by the bank can definitely be exchanged for silver and food. I can guarantee this. However, it will take time to prepare for the establishment of branches in various places. When it is established, you can see , what I said is absolutely not false!"

Seeing that King Qin still wanted to speak, Emperor Chongzhen stopped him with a wave of his hand, and then continued: "Some people may think that even so, the imperial court exchanged the food of the good years for the food of the current disaster years. It is not cost-effective for the vassal king. Regarding this, I will definitely be very angry with people who care about this. If he really cares about this, I feel that he is not worthy of becoming a descendant of the Zhu family, who is a stable person. There is no need to enjoy the glory and wealth brought by the Ming Dynasty."

When King Qin heard this, he nodded quickly. The emperor had made this very clear before.In terms of emotion and reason, if the emperor really wanted to do this, no one would dare to say anything if he dealt with several Rui kings.

Seeing him like this, Emperor Chongzhen confessed to him: "Some things, from my point of view, some people may have a rebellious mentality and feel that I am too stingy and treat my relatives badly. Therefore, I tell you these things in the hope that you can Help me clarify this truth, and then publish the memorial. I believe that in this way, other vassal kings will easily accept it. I don’t want the clan to end up in an unpleasant situation. Of course, if someone wants to make me unhappy Of course, I won't let him have an easy time. After all, this is for the sake of the country passed down from my ancestors. If I am more cruel, and bear the infamy, I will admit it!"

"..." The King of Qin was speechless again. Your emperor's words were threatening and alluring, and you spoke earnestly. What can a mere vassal say?Don't you just want me to be the young bird, and bear the infamy of the feudal lords for you!Straightforward!

Although he thought so, when he really responded, King Qin still said "sincerely": "Everything your majesty said is reasonable!"

After hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen nodded in satisfaction.This king of Qin, I heard that he is a timid kind, so I just stopped by to chat with him, it seems to be rewarding.

The reason why I wanted to talk to the King of Qin while I was in Xi'an and let him take the lead in explaining this matter was because he was about to lead his troops into Henan.On the Henan side, many clans have also been sealed off.The most famous one among them is King Fu, who is also his imperial uncle.

The weight of this uncle is not comparable to that of King Rui.Back then, this King Fu almost became the Emperor of Ming Dynasty.It was the prince whom Emperor Wanli had wanted to establish again and again, but the officials opposed it. After many years of struggle, it was finally Emperor Chongzhen's father who took over the throne.

Therefore, in order to compensate King Fu, Wanli rewarded [-] hectares of farmland at one time.It can be said that at least the grain fields near Luoyang are basically owned by King Fu.On the Henan side, even the vassal kings didn't have enough grain fields, so they had to draw the grain fields of neighboring provinces.

When Emperor Chongzhen entered Henan this time, he wanted King Fu and others to make a good fortune.But for King Fu, he couldn't deal with him as simply and roughly as King Rui.

The main reason is that King Rui first committed suicide and gave Emperor Chongzhen an excuse to deal with it.It would be difficult for other vassal kings to find excuses like this.

On the other hand, in name only, King Fu has already given up the throne, but if you still force him to do so, Emperor Chongzhen will suffer in terms of human ethics.

Even though Emperor Chongzhen had already taken control of the military, King Fu couldn't do anything about this kind of thing.But if the reputation is bad, the hidden losses will still be huge.A simple example, if this happened, he would definitely be attacked by all potential enemies such as Li Zicheng or the Manchu Qing Dynasty, as well as those scholars who were punished by Emperor Chongzhen.Most of the people were blindly obedient, knowing that the emperor was a tyrant and would not spare even his own relatives. If they had other choices, this would be a factor that would change their decision.

Nominal justice has been valued by Chinese people since ancient times.The so-called teacher is famous refers to this truth.Those who do things shamelessly will not end well in the end.

Therefore, Emperor Chongzhen felt that these potential factors could be resolved by doing something by the way, and he didn't mind doing something.

After talking about this matter, he might also become interested, and continued to talk about family affairs with King Qin, asking him how many children, grandsons, etc., and how he is doing?
Hearing this, King Qin's heart moved, and he quickly began to complain, saying that his youngest sons have not been recorded in the "Tianhuang Yushu" by the imperial court. If you are not a knight, you cannot receive a salary.His lineage of the King of Qin, and other offshoots, are even more that have not been included in the "Tianhuang Yushu".

Having said this, he even hurriedly asked his young sons to come over to meet him and make them recognize their faces.At least in his opinion, this opportunity was rare, and he might be able to record it in the "Tianhuang Jade Certificate", which would help him a lot.

Regarding this, Emperor Chongzhen kept smiling, and also met his sons, and after boasting that he would be promising in the future, he let them go down.

When King Qin was the only one left in the hall, with the expectant eyes of King Qin, Emperor Chongzhen seemed not to have thought of entering them into the "Tianhuang Jade Certificate". He was just chatting about family matters and mentioned it casually: " In fact, after nearly 300 years of establishing the vassal system since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, I think it is no longer applicable!"

Hearing this, the King of Qin was stunned again. During the Jiajing Dynasty, there was actually a reform of the suzerainty system, and the "Suzerainty Regulations" were issued, which can be regarded as limiting the interests of many suzerains.Listening to the emperor's words at this time, why does it seem that a new round of feudal restriction is about to start?

Thinking of this, he didn't answer for a while, but just listened silently.

Emperor Chongzhen didn't care about him, and continued on his own: "You see, the emperor's sons must be named vassal kings except for the prince, and except for the hereditary sons of the vassal kings, they must be named county kings. They have to seal the generals of the country... If this continues, at the beginning of the founding of the country, it was actually nothing, but now that so many years have passed, the number of clan members has increased by more than 60 times compared to the beginning of the founding of the country. The imperial treasury The annual income, to be honest, is not enough to cover the expenses of the vassal princes and clans of various places. However, if the arrears over the years are not paid, I feel sorry for my relatives. Therefore, I just thought, starting with me, the suzerain vassal system , you have to change fundamentally!"

After hearing this, King Qin finally looked at Emperor Chongzhen again in surprise. He didn't know how the emperor was going to change.
"Help me to see if this is okay?" Emperor Chongzhen seemed to say sincerely, "Starting from my son, I will no longer take over the feudal title. After the vassal king, my grandson can only be the county king, the son of my grandson It’s General Zhen Guo, so let’s go on like this. I know that if I do this, my sons will probably be dissatisfied. But this matter is related to the Ming Dynasty, and even if they are dissatisfied, I have decided to do it. How are you doing?”

"..." King Qin was speechless. He felt that the young emperor in front of him was cruel to the vassal king and also to his own son!If that's what he said, wouldn't his own son have to do the same thing?

Of course he didn't want to do this.However, he also knew that the emperor in front of him was "cruel and merciless". If he was not as good as the emperor wanted, would he follow in the footsteps of King Rui?Furthermore, the emperor's most important thing is to move out of the ancestral society, and his own son will do the same, so can he still say no?

After much deliberation, King Qin still said cautiously: "Your Majesty, this... will this cause Your Majesty to be criticized by the clan? Has Your Majesty paid too much for the country left by his ancestors?"

To be honest, Emperor Chongzhen must have had a layer of estrangement from those sons, even if they merged with the soul of the original Emperor Chongzhen, there was still some.But this is not the most important thing. The most important thing is that at the end of the Ming Dynasty, the clan had indeed become a very heavy burden for the imperial court, and it had to be dealt with.

Therefore, upon hearing King Qin's words, Emperor Chongzhen sighed and said, "There is no other way. You see, there are so many people in your vassal palace that have not been recorded in the "Tianhuang Yushu". I have no money and food, so I can’t afford it! And I’ve also heard that some clans with low titles even died of starvation. Therefore, it’s impossible not to reform the system of vassal clans.”

Speaking of this, he paused and then said: "Of course, I have also considered it. In the future, those clans with low titles will let go of the restrictions imposed by the ancestors in the past, and they will be attributed to their citizenship. Those who are capable can become officials. It’s okay to farm if you don’t have the skills, and you can do a little business, after all, you can support yourself, right?”

In the original history, it was also on July 12th, the [-]th year of Chongzhen, that Emperor Chongzhen made this opening, conferring on Zhu Mouchao, the imperial family, as the scholar of Zhongshushe, and all the emperors became the magistrates of the state.Minba, Moubao, Huatongpan, Changqian, Dingjing, and Changhun are all magistrates.

(End of this chapter)