The Prosperous Era of Longwan

Something big happened in the court again.

Although most officials could not express their opinions on the selection of fiefdoms for the vassal princes, as it seemed that it had nothing to do with them, Emperor Jiajing's order still came into the sight of all Beijing officials.

That night, many madams in wine shops and flower shops discovered that all the gentlemen who used to come to their places for entertainment seemed to have suddenly disappeared.

Of course, officials did not choose to stay away from these places because of financial constraints or conscience. Instead, they gathered in twos and threes at friends' homes to talk about the feudal king's fiefdom.

Talking about these things outside will avoid people talking too much.

At this time, many people of all kinds came to the residences of Yan Song and Xu Jie, ministers of the Ming Dynasty's cabinet. They all came to close relations and inquire about information.

There were also a lot of people coming to the homes of Liubu Tang officials like Wu Shan and Yang Bo, and even the home of Gao Gong, the minister of Taichang Temple, had an endless stream of visitors.

Naturally, the reason for the closer relationship is that these people are the top dignitaries of the dynasty. Even their casual words and deeds may determine the future career of the officials.

Inquiring about the information is to know which places they plan to recommend as new feudal fiefdoms.

Of course they did not want to recommend their hometown to become a new vassal fiefdom. In fact, there were a few things that the court could not avoid every time it conferred a vassal king.

The first is to build a standard prince's residence in the fiefdom. The location is naturally the best location in the center of the fiefdom city. As for the original owners of these places, their property deeds will be forcibly taken away at a very low price.

The second is the prince's fief. It is a custom that the emperor will directly reward the prince with a large land if he petitions before going to the fief.

The land granted by the emperor to the princes ranged from a hundred hectares to thousands of hectares.

It should be noted that these land grants were not a transfer of property rights, that is, the land ownership was transferred to the feudal king, but the taxes and servitude attached to the fields were transferred to the palace.

It turns out that there was a fixed rule for the land that had been given to the prince and his relatives at home and abroad, that is, the government collected three cents of silver for each mu. After paying the amount due to the prince, the rest went to the government. The local people often used the surplus on this land. The income is used to pay other taxes and levies of the government.

However, during the Hongzhi period, Emperor Hongzhi broke the previous rules and approved the palace to collect taxes on the newly granted land.

This not only reduces part of the country's income, but also greatly increases the burden on local people.

Emperor Hongzhi ordered that this land be completely "managed" by the palace, which meant that all the income from the land should be attributed to the palace. The palace could arbitrarily set a very high tax amount, and the local people had almost no remaining land income to pay other taxes and levies. , and in the end could only sell the land at a low price.

In fact, it was at this time that the Ming Dynasty royal family began to annex large-scale land.

With such land, apart from selling it to the royal palace, no second victim would be willing to buy it, and the original landowners of these lands would naturally suffer huge losses as a result.

In the Ming Dynasty, most of the land in the Ming Dynasty, except for the imperial land and the royal land, was actually in the hands of gentry from all over the country. Although the royal land that was set aside was mostly civilian land, when there was not enough land, their fields would also be taken away. Included in rewards.

With the continuous rewards from the royal family and the shrinking of private land, the apportionment of local taxes and servitude will gradually become a big problem. Naturally, no matter how they consider it, the local gentry does not want a vassal king to be granted to them.

Therefore, they came to inquire about the information. Although they had no say in choosing the fiefdom, they were able to obtain the information in advance, and then sent their family members to send letters to their hometowns. If the land in their hands should be sold, they should sell it as soon as possible to avoid losses.

In fact, in provinces in the Central Plains where vassal kings were more intensively entrusted, there was already insufficient land for enfeoffment.

The civil servants of the Ming Dynasty have always wanted to reform some of the clan's rules, but they have always encountered resistance from the royal family, and the emperor has not relented at all.

In the feudal dynasty, land was the basis for producing wealth.

Emperor Jiajing focused on the money raised by the Ministry of Revenue and planned to use the hundreds of thousands of taels of silver to build the palace. They really couldn't object to this.

As for granting land to the newly enthroned vassal king, there seems to be no objection.

On this night, many people had not had time to think about whether King Yu or King Jing would become a vassal, but they were already disturbed by the fiefdom and could not sleep at night.

However, not everyone is like this, at least Wei Guangde slept peacefully.

In the next two days, the officials in the capital had figured out the situation and knew that Wu Shan, the Minister of Rites, and Gao Yao, the Minister of Household Affairs, had reached an agreement on the new canonization of the feudal prince's fiefdom, which was to send it to Anlu.

Why where? In fact, there is a reason.

In Anlu, there are currently three vacant Prince's Palaces. If you choose one of them to be renovated, it can be used as a new Prince's Palace.

Second, there was originally a large area of ​​land in Anlu and surrounding areas that had been designated as vassal fiefdom, and there was enough land for the emperor to reward.

Of course, the most important thing is that in Anlu and surrounding areas, after several successive vassal fiefdoms, many local gentry families have disposed of those lands. Most of the land now belongs to official land and "will not disturb the people."

Even when the two went to the cabinet for preliminary consultations, they had already thought of the reason, that is, the new king was sealed in Anlu, and as the children of Emperor Jiajing, he could worship Ruizong Zhu Youqi on behalf of the emperor, that is, Xing Wang Zhu Youqi, Emperor Jiajing 's dad.

Let the grandsons and descendants offer sacrifices from generation to generation, even Emperor Jiajing would not disagree.

You know, Emperor Jiajing was still very filial to his labor and mother, think about the great ceremony at the beginning.

Neither Yan Song nor Xu Jie, the cabinet academicians, expressed any objection to Wu Shan and Gao Yao's ideas.

In fact, Anlu should be called Chengtian Mansion now. After all, Emperor Jiajing came from here, but this does not mean that this place is a "feng shui treasure land".

In fact, in the early Ming Dynasty, the 23rd son of Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, King Zhu Dong of Ying, was sealed here. However, when Yongle died in the twelfth year of his reign, Ying Fan was abolished because he had no sons, which was a bad start.

The later King of Liang, Zhu Zhanbian, was the ninth son of Zhu Gaochi, Renzong of the Ming Dynasty, and the grandson of Zhu Di, the ancestor of Ming Dynasty. He was named King of Liang in the 22nd year of Yongle.

In the fourth year of Xuande, Zhu Zhanbian went to Anlu Mansion to live in Anlu. It was only 15 years after the death of Zhu Dong, the first Ying king who came here to join the vassal state. The palace used by Liang Wang Zhu Zhanbian was the old palace of Ying Wang Zhu Dong, and he lived there. Prince's Mansion, can Prince Liang sleep well?

Not practical.

Liang Wang Zhu Zhanbian followed the old path of Ying Wang Zhu Dong and died young in the sixth year of Zhengtong. He had no sons but two daughters.

For the same reason as King Zhu Dong of Ying, Liang Fan was abolished because he had no sons.

As for the third prince sealed here, that is Prince Xing Zhu Youqi. The newly built prince's palace has blood this time, leaving Emperor Jiajing behind.

Being sealed in Anlu, it seems that as long as he does not use the palace used by King Ying and King Liang, he can avoid the fate of Wu Si Jue?

of course not.

Anlu ushered in the fourth vassal king. This was the longevity king Zhu Youguo. He was the ninth son of Xianzong of the Ming Dynasty. In the eleventh year of Hongzhi, he went to Baoning Prefecture in Sichuan to become a vassal.

The road to Shu was difficult and difficult to climb to the sky. It was too far away, so he asked to change the fiefdom to the inland. So after Zhu Houzhao, Emperor Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty, came to power, he agreed to move the ninth uncle Zhu Youguo inland. The newly chosen fiefdom was also in Anlu, but it was called De'an Mansion.

In the 24th year of Jiajing's reign, the longevity king Zhu Youqu died at the age of 64. Because he had no sons, the longevity clan was expelled.

According to Wu Shan and Gao Yao's plan, it is to borrow the site of Prince Shou's Mansion and make some repairs. If it is not possible to build a new Prince's Mansion nearby, anything missing can be transported directly from the abandoned Prince Shou's Mansion, which will save a lot of money.

You know, the expenses for the feudal king to establish a vassal are quite high. In addition to the expenses for the new palace, the expenses for the feudal king's journey to the vassal are all provided by the Ministry of Revenue. This expense will continue until the feudal king It ends when you reach the palace.

The ceremonial guard for the feudal king's trip and the food and accommodation for his entourage were not a small sum of money, which was enough to cause a headache for the financially strapped households, so naturally they could save as much as they could.

Of course, the most important thing is the land rewarded. As long as it does not touch the surrounding gentry, there will be much less local conflict and related work will be implemented quickly.

During this period, as long as King Jing can be sent out of the capital early, it will be worthwhile in the eyes of Wu Shan, Gao Yao and others.

Two days later, Wei Guangde heard that Huang Guangsheng, the governor of Huguichuan, had proposed teasing Yu Dayou to be promoted to the post of general of Guizhou West Road in the selection of generals by the Ministry of War. The Ministry of War did not object immediately, but said that it would write to Emperor Jiajing and wait for the emperor's decision. Opinion.

In fact, on the night he met Huang Guangsheng, he received a note from the Huang Mansion and knew that Huang Guangsheng had agreed to his request. However, Wei Guangde did not immediately send someone to Datong to deliver the letter to Yu Dayou.

After all, the key to this matter is not Huang Guangsheng, but the emperor's attitude. Even if Yan Song blocks it, as long as the emperor is determined to use Yu Dayou, there is nothing Yan Song can do.

In the past, officials may have been worried about pressure from Yan Song and fear of retaliation afterwards, but under the current circumstances, they are undoubtedly more emboldened.

How long can the suppression last?

He was retaliated and suppressed by Yan Song in a short period of time. When King Yu comes to power in a few years, this experience will become the step for his promotion.

Although I don’t know if Yu Dayou is related to Prince Yu’s Mansion, Yan Song and Prince Yu’s Mansion are enemies, and the enemy of my enemy is a friend. If I am an enemy of Yan Song, I am naturally a friend of Prince Yu’s Mansion.

The official document from the Ministry of War was sent to the cabinet, and Wei Guangde was waiting for news from the cabinet.

Soon, Wei Guangde received news from the cabinet.

Contrary to what he thought, Yan Song uncharacteristically did not object this time. He drafted the vote the day after receiving the memorial from the Ministry of War. He did not continuously reject the documents asking for merit from the Ministry of War like when Datong commended him.

The memorial was sent to Xiyuan together with the memorial of the cabinet, together with the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Household, requesting the location of the new palace in De'an Mansion in Huguang.

Chengtian Mansion can no longer be used as a place for the new king to settle down, so De'an Mansion within its territory has become the best location for the prince's residence.

Everything seemed to be going smoothly. Yan Song and King Jing's group seemed to have given up resistance and did not choose to hinder the work.

Although Wei Guangde was a little curious about this, he also had some guesses.

He would not think more like Gao Gong and others after knowing the news because the Yan family had already surrendered.

But no matter how he thought about it, he never thought that what Yan Shifan was thinking of at this time was exactly that place in Anlu Prefecture, and it seemed that there was something wrong with the feng shui.

After more than half a year, King Jing and Yan Shifan already knew that the chess pieces they arranged had been secretly executed by Dongchang.

In other words, everything they had done had actually been discovered by Emperor Jiajing, but he had not implicated them.

After being frightened for half a month, King Jing recovered from his fear. He believed Yan Shifan's words. After all, he was his biological son and had done everything he could. What else could he do?

Now, after knowing that Emperor Jiajing was considering establishing a vassal state, King Jing was also very nervous for a time.

In fact, when Yan Shifan got the news, his situation was no better than that of King Jing.

Of course, obstruction is not possible. At this time, the authority of Emperor Jiajing is not accessible to everyone.

To make some small moves in private without threatening the emperor's authority, Emperor Jiajing would not do anything to King Jing for the sake of his own son, but the Yan family could not do that, even if the father was a bit thin to the emperor.

Moreover, up to now, Yan Shifan still has a little ambition in his heart, that is, there is no news in Xiyuan about who Emperor Jiajing wants to leave Beijing and become a vassal.

After knowing that Wu Shan and others chose Anlu, Yan Shifan even communicated with Yan Song.

Yan Song is now older and less energetic, so he needs his son's advice on many things.

Yan Shifan's idea was to oppose Wu Shan and others' plans, but not to stop them forcefully.

Therefore, in the cabinet memorial, it only expressed that Yan Song felt that it "seemed inappropriate" for the new king to be granted the title of Anlu, which was in sharp contrast to the strong support of Xu Jie, Wu Shan, Gao Yao and others.

This is what Wei Guangde noticed. He thought that the Yan family's plan was to pretend to be pitiful in front of Emperor Jiajing. Yan Song, now the chief minister of the cabinet, had been forced by the second minister Xu Jie, together with the Minister of Rites Wu Shan and the Minister of Hubu Gao Yao. I have to agree with their assertion.

"Dad, Your Majesty knows Feng Shui well."

That night, Yan Shifan explained the reasons in detail to Yan Song. The most important thing was that the place Wu Shan and Gao Yao chose was definitely not a geomantic treasure, but a dead place.

Emperor Jiajing had been resting in Taoism for many years, so it was impossible for him not to know this.

In fact, Emperor Xiaozong Zhu Youtang had no good intentions when he sent his younger brother to Anlu.

It is impossible to say that Zhu Youtang did not have any resentment against the people in the palace due to his childhood experiences. However, after he ascended the throne as emperor, he still had nothing to do against the Concubine Wan Guifei family, at least he could not retaliate publicly.

That is to say, Xingwang Zhu Youji was indifferent to fame and fortune and devoted himself to Taoism, so he did not follow in the footsteps of Ying and Liang.

Tiger poison does not eat its seeds.

In Yan Shifan's opinion, Emperor Jiajing would probably reject this memorial. In any case, King Jing was his biological son.

As for Huang Guang's selection of general Yu Dayou, Yan Shifan was not too concerned. After all, at this time, the throne was the most important.

They were sent to the palace together. When Emperor Jiajing saw something, he was so angry that he probably threw them away together.