Domineering Daming

Cao Huachun's heart trembled, and he said: "Observe the order!"

At this moment, Zhou Wangfu.

King Zhu Gong of Zhou had received the news, and he said to the King of Shu overjoyed, "The King of Shu is still wise, doesn't the little emperor want to enrich the treasury with our land? We're going to start here and see what he will do!"

The acting king Zhu Naijun also sneered, and said: "The little emperor really thinks that we vassal kings will just eat and wait to die. Our clans are all over the Ming Dynasty and rule the world. I really think it is empty talk!"

Zhu Zhishu, king of Shu, smiled at the corner of his mouth, and he looked like he was holding a wisdom pearl. He didn't care at all about the flattering compliments of the two.

After his collusion, the food supply of the Ming court this year suddenly decreased by nearly 200 million shi!

His heart was full of pride, and he couldn't help but think, "Isn't it just the feeling of manipulating the world?"

"My lord, my lord..." A middle-aged man who looked like a butler ran in and shouted loudly.

The three kings were all startled, and wanted to go outside one after another.

I saw King Ping walking in the front, Ni Wenhuan, Shangshu of the Ministry of Punishment, and Hou Guoxing, the head of the East Factory, followed closely.

The king of Zhou, the king of Dai, and the king of Shu looked at each other in dismay, their eyes flashed with horror.

Zhou Wang was the master, he stepped forward to look at Ping Wang, and said coldly: "Ping Wang, what do you mean?"

King Ping glanced at him, took out the imperial decree, and said calmly: "Follow the heavens... King Zhou, King Dai, King Shu, acted disloyally, acted recklessly, removed his title, confiscated everything, and took him to the clan's mansion pending trial... "

"Take it!"

As soon as King Ping finished reading, Ni Wenhuan waved his hand.

The yamen servants from the Ministry of Punishment rushed forward and were about to tie up the three of them.

The face of the King of Shu changed greatly, and he shouted loudly: "Let me go, let me go, you dare to arrest me, do you know how powerful I am, I can cut Sichuan's taxes by half!"

Ni Wenhuan smiled and said, "The king of Shu is worried too much. With the three of you, what is missing will be made up for."

The face of the King of Shu changed suddenly. If he was cut off from his status or even executed, those fools would change their minds immediately!

"I don't believe it, I don't believe that the little emperor dares to do something to the clan!" Shu Wang roared.

King Ping saw it very unpleasantly, and said: "The emperor did not intend to attack the entire clan."

The faces of King Zhou and King Dai were pale. They just didn't want to lose what they have now. They never thought that it would be difficult for the emperor. They looked at King Ping and said, "My lord, we plead guilty, please let me go..."

King Ping shook his head, Ni Wenhuan waved his hand, and all three of them were taken away.

The three kings were stripped of their memberships, causing a huge wave in the capital.

Whether it is the Qing rumor official, or the six departments and nine ministers, they all have a premonition that something big will happen.

But the most influential ones are the more than 100 princes who are stranded in the capital!

Everyone is uneasy and worried.

Three or five gathered together, their expressions extremely dignified.

Everyone knows that this is the emperor killing chickens and scaring monkeys. If they don't say anything, I'm afraid they will be the next one!

They were like headless flies, running all over the capital, the imperial palace, Wenzhao Pavilion, the six ministries, the Metropolitan Procuratorate, the clan mansion, wherever they could run, they ran everywhere.

Three days later.

King De wrote a letter, expressing his willingness to donate acres of land and private property to the imperial court to relieve the emptiness of the national treasury, and more than a dozen vassal kings including King Chong, King Zheng, and King Xiang signed their names.

The king of Heqing County wrote a letter, presenting the land mu register of the Wangfu, with one hundred thousand silver, to respect the emperor.It was also signed by more than 50 county kings, including Huating County King, Laiyang County King, and Yiyang County King.

At the same time, the Supervisory Council was established in Wucheng Pavilion, and Prince Ping led dozens of clan princes to officially settle in to supervise government affairs.

Chapter 305 Arrangements

With Zhou Wang and other three people imprisoned, their thrones were cut off, and De Wang and Heqing County King wrote letters one after another, the other princes also understood that the general trend was ahead and they could not escape.

Alone, in twos and threes, even ran into the palace to meet Zhu Xu in person, donating acres of land and private property with a look of scrambling for the first.

Inside the imperial study.

King Ping, Fu Changzong, and Wei Zhongxian were all there, Zhu Xu was in a rare good mood, looked at the memorials one after another, looked at King Ping with a smile on his face, and said, "Uncle Emperor, the Governor's Council has a very important matter, so we can't be careless."

King Ping didn't seem to be able to bear the heavy trust, raised his hand, and said with a smile: "What does the emperor say, I just do what I want, and I will definitely not make a big mistake."

Fu Changzong and Wei Zhongxian didn't speak, they knew very well that the so-called Governor's Court was just a nursing home for these princes, and the real decision was made by Emperor Zhu Xu.

Zhu Xu smiled and said: "I can't extend my hand so long. The Governor's Council pays monthly salaries and ranks high officials. The responsibility is to supervise the various policies of the imperial court. Six ministries and nine temples, especially local officials Whether it is implemented. The first priority right now is whether the three teams of inspectors dispatched by the Metropolitan Procuratorate will fulfill their duties and fight corruption..."

These princes are all over the world, and the fiefdoms are the most prosperous places, and many things are more carefully known than the imperial court.

King Ping understood, raised his hand and said, "I obey the order."

Zhu Xu said "hmm", looked at Fu Changzong and said, "Uncle, what's going on with you?"

Fu Changzong took a step forward and said: "Your Majesty, the Ministry of Household Affairs has already made preparations. According to the rosters of land and acres submitted by the princes, the property has been carefully checked and received. There is no specific number yet, but..."

Zhu Xu looked at him and said, "But what?"

Fu Changzong glanced at King Ping, and said in a deep thought: "Your Majesty, I speculate that the amount donated by the princes is probably less than half, and there is a lot hidden."

Zhu Xu was not surprised at all, and said: "Well, I had expected it a long time ago. It would be good to let him spit out half of it. We can't force it too fast. When I come back from Liaodong, the Sixth Department, especially the Ministry of Households, and the East Factory must do a good job. Get ready, I'm going to check the land and acres all over the country!"

Fu Changzong was not surprised by these words, Zhu Xu had long thought about this, but Prince Ping's heart skipped a beat, he had already offended the feudal lords all over the world, if he offended all the officials and rich households again, Daming would become even more unstable.

However, King Ping has never been involved in politics, and he is very clear about what can be said and what cannot be said, his expression is slightly condensed, and he remains silent.

Naturally, Fu Changzong didn't say anything else. If Zhu Xu could return from the Liaodong victory, it would be much easier to push forward everything with the momentum of the victory.

Zhu Xu thought in his mind that the purpose of checking the acres of land was naturally for redistribution, which involved the population. He looked up at Fu Changzong and said, "Uncle, do you know how many people there are in my Daming?"

Fu Changzong, as the Minister of the Household Department, would not be ignorant of this, and said: "Back to the emperor, there was an accounting in the first year of Taichang, and it was nearly 200 million."

Zhu Xu frowned and said, "Why are there so few?"

Zhu Xu also read some records. In the fifth year of Longqing, the population was about 6000 to 30 million. In the 600th year of Wanli, it dropped to about 200 million. In the first year of Taichang, it dropped to about [-] million.

He occasionally read a book in his previous life, and he vaguely remembered that the population at the end of Ming Dynasty was more than 6000 million, and there was a big gap here.

Fu Changzong said: "This is the registered population. The taxable population is calculated according to the ministers and the ministers and workers of the household department. Firstly, there are continuous disasters, secondly, wars, and thirdly, I am afraid that some people will be concealed to avoid taxation. So it's decreasing."

Zhu Xu nodded thoughtfully, and said, "Then according to my uncle's calculation, what is the actual population of my Daming?"

Fu Changzong and the Ministry of Household Affairs had indeed made calculations. After thinking about it, they gave a relatively safe figure and said: "Returning to the emperor, I think it should be about the same as the fifth year of Longqing, around 200 million."