First Prince of Ming Dynasty

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned and looked at his son. He had already revealed to Zhu Biao his intention of entrusting the kings, and his son had no intention of objecting at that time.

Zhu Yuanzhang walked to Zhu Biao and said earnestly: We have considered many times about enfeoffing the kings to the north. If you are worried that it will repeat the chaos of the Han and Jin kings, or the separatism of local feudal towns, then there is no need. We have already done it for you. You plan to.

In history, Zhu Yuanzhang entrusted his most capable sons to station on the border, such as Zhu Yu, Zhu Fan, Zhu Di, and Zhu Quan, who locked up Beiyuan firmly, just to prevent Mongolia from counterattacking the Central Plains.

And it's the same now, even if Zhu Biao destroyed Beiyuan ahead of time, they are temporarily surrendering now. It is foreseeable that within ten years, Mongols will rebel. They are a nation that has established a unified dynasty, and they are not so easy to be defeated.

After all, in history, Sapphire has achieved great victories and severely damaged the remaining forces of the Northern Yuan Dynasty. However, the forces of the Northern Yuan Dynasty are like Xiaoqiang who cannot be beaten to death. Later, Zhu Di personally conquered Tatars five times. The news, he hid in the sky early and shivered, and lived with a shameless face.

Moreover, the military power of the generals must be taken back. These people are old brothers who followed Zhu Yuanzhang to conquer the world. They have been in charge of the military power for too long, and they are far away from the imperial court. It can be guarded that civil strife will hurt muscles and bones.

However, remote places still need people to guard, and the army must also be controlled by someone. The Zhu family's foundation is weak, so it is the best choice for the princes to take over.

In addition, for the sake of kingship, the north, especially the sixteen prefectures of Yanyun and other places, were seriously transformed. In ancient times, 25 years was considered a generation. The northern Han people who have lived under foreign rule for so long, their living habits, clothes Clothes, speech and manners, weddings and funerals, etc., are almost all censored, or there is a tendency to become Hu, so Zhu Yuanzhang set off a vigorous campaign to restore Chinese clothes.

In the north, especially in the north far away from the core of the empire, the sons of the emperor and the princes of the empire sit here. Institutions are all behaviors that lead the local fashion, and this also plays a decisive role in finding the home for northern China and returning to China.

Moreover, the kings have been sealed here for generations, which can also appease the hearts of the local people. After all, the Northland has been occupied for a long time. Once it is recovered, it is inevitable that there will be repetitions. Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang sealed his sons here and kept them here for generations. In a way, comfortingly, the emperor was with his subjects.

This is the emperor's thinking, and of course the most important point is Zhu Yuanzhang's selfishness. How miserable his childhood was, his parents and elder brothers all starved to death, died of illness, and there were few people left in the family.

He grew up begging, became a beggar, became a monk, and finally rebelled with one heart, and finally conquered the world, so Zhu Yuanzhang actually attaches great importance to family affection, and he worked hard to design for the children. The way to eat.

Of course, Lao Zhu's favorite is of course his eldest son Zhu Biao. In order to ensure that the throne can be passed on safely in Zhu Biao's lineage, Zhu Yuanzhang prepared various restrictions on the entrusted kings.

The vassal kings he plans to entrust are very different from the vassal kings of the Western Han Dynasty and the vassal kings of the Western Jin Dynasty Sima Yan. The fiefdoms of the Han and Jin kings are at least half the area of ​​the province. The king's fief almost included the entire Shandong.

More importantly, the vassal kings of the Western Han and Western Jin Dynasties, in their fiefdoms, had military, political, financial, and personnel powers in their hands. They not only had their own army, but also had their own small courts, and they could justifiably collect taxes. Even the appointment and dismissal of officials in the fief is decided by themselves, which is completely equivalent to an independent small kingdom. In other words, they are the real kings.

Although Zhu Yuanzhang's vassal kings are called kings, most of their fiefs are limited to one city. For example, the most powerful Qin kings, Jin kings, Yan kings, Zhou kings, and Ning kings in history. Their fiefdoms are not in Shaanxi Province, Shanxi Province, Hebei Province, Henan Province, and Inner Mongolia are just the cities of Xi'an, Taiyuan, Kaifeng, Beijing, and Ningcheng, so in terms of strength, they are completely different.

More importantly, the vassal kings of the Ming Dynasty only had the power to command troops in their own fiefdoms. As for the administrative regions, financial power, and personnel power, they were all in charge of officials sent by the central government, and they were strictly prohibited from interacting with the ministers sent. Make friends.

In this context, the vassal kings of the Ming Dynasty not only did not have the power to collect taxes, nor did they have the power to appoint and dismiss officials, and even the logistics of their army were all in charge of the local government officials. This is very important. What is fighting is logistics. supply.

In this context, the vassal king of the Ming Dynasty was essentially a general who commanded troops abroad. It's just that compared with other generals with foreign surnames, their status, rank and treatment are higher.

As for other aspects, there is not much difference. In other words, the vassal king of the Ming Dynasty was actually just a general with the title of vassal king.

What's more, even the powerful vassal kings of the Han and Jin Dynasties have never succeeded in rebelling. Throughout history, only Zhu Di was the only vassal king who was able to rebel successfully under the unified dynasty. .

Zhu Biao looked at his father and said, I'm not trying to send my brothers out of the country immediately, but making long-term plans for the future. The Central Plains is vast, but how many vassals can it accommodate?

Zhu Yuanzhang saw that his son did not speak, Zhu Biao went on to say: Father is in his prime, sons and ministers are about to get married soon, there will be more and more princes and grandchildren, and there will be more and more princes in the future.

They are also nobles, how can they be a vassal with peace of mind, perhaps when the court is strong, they are forced to endure the situation, but once there is suspicion of the master, the minister is not attached, and the people don't believe it, then the vassals will never Don't mind fighting it out.

Zhu Yuanzhang still didn't speak, and the rotten meat in the pot is still his own. It is also Zhu Yuanzhang's blood that the vassal king seized power, and can this be stopped by sealing the vassal king outside?

If the Central Plains were really empty, who would be willing to be the king of a bitterly cold place? Naturally, the whole country would join forces to march into the Central Plains, and the impact would definitely be greater than the harm caused by the rebellion of the vassal kings in the territory.

Zhu Biao helped Zhu Yuanzhang back to the seat: Father, it's not that the ministers don't know the dangers of foreign kings, but that these small countries have reached the time to be restrained. Before the Han and Tang Dynasties, they were like savages and uneducated, but What now?

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