The Prosperous Era of Longwan

Wei Guangde smiled and said, "Your Majesty and the clan may not accept what Qi Langzhong has proposed, as it would change the ancestral system too much.

Negotiable, but not feasible. "

Yin Shizhen frowned and said, "I think it actually makes sense. Why isn't it feasible?"

"The intention of this memorial is good. It can alleviate the problem of insufficient Lumi and relieve the pressure on the court. However, everyone knows the solution, but it was just not mentioned out loud before.

This is a change in the ancestral system. It will be difficult for you to pass the test between Your Majesty and the clan.

The prince can only grant four titles to the princes, and the prince can only grant three titles to the generals of the country. Although it seems that the court's granting is reduced, which can save a lot of money, but with such reduction, the court actually only needs to increase the number of titles. That's enough, no need to change the ancestral system.

This method, after all, is that the water from afar cannot quench the thirst of the nearer.

As for the second article of succession, in fact, it can be secretly set as a rule by the Ministry of Rites, but it cannot be recorded in words, 'Princes can have disciples and heirs; if a prince has no heirs, he is only allowed to worship his own clan, and he is not allowed to support his brothers.'"

Wei Guangde also analyzed the following articles one by one for the third article: "Not sparing subordinates", the fourth article "discussing the master" and the fifth article "advocating expenses". Many of them are feasible, but they can only be implemented in the Ministry of Rites and cannot be written down.

"However, 'Lieutenant Feng Guo does not need to grant a title again, but only gives five hundred taels of silver to the first son born, and I can do whatever I want'. It inspired me that nowadays, regardless of whether there is a title or a jade certificate, as long as the person is willing, he can Please ask the court to resign your title and become a citizen, and the court will give you a one-time compensation in silver."

Wei Guangde said this because he knew that many lower-level clans were living in poverty. The local government tried to delay payment because of insufficient lumi, but after all, they had to pay some every year. The key was that their descendants should also be granted titles.

Before, Wei Guangde thought of offering a package price to each line of princes, that is, no matter how many descendants each line produced, the court would give them a fixed amount of expenses every year, and they would allocate them according to their titles.

When you run out of money and life becomes difficult, you will naturally be unable to continue having children.

But in the end, it seems that this will only make it more difficult for the lower-level clans, because the heads of each clan, that is, the princes and princes will not be affected, and they will only continue to increase the population.

Qi Yuanzuo's proposal reminded Wei Guangde of the practice of buying out seniority in later generations.

Depending on the title, the court would give them a lump sum of money as a one-time payment. If they couldn't survive after that, because they had been transferred out of the clan, the court would not have to take care of them. At worst, they would be asked to beg for food from their master's family.

For these clans, it is very tempting to get a sum of money at their fingertips in a short time.

After all, with the clan hat on his head, he can't do anything. He can only stare at the local government every year and ask for a living, but he still doesn't get it.

Now that the imperial court gives them a lump sum of money and they transfer their citizenship, they can engage in other jobs, whether it's farming or doing business. With money, they can have enough food and clothing in the short term.

For these people, most people can’t see very far.

But what you need to be careful about is cheating the money, and then using your clan identity to cause trouble after spending it.

"You have made quite a few changes to the ancestral system."

Zhang Juzheng is a hard-working official. In fact, he doesn't pay attention to the ancestral system at all.

He only considers the feasibility of the method and whether it can solve the problem.

Wei Guangde had previously said that Qi Yuanzuo's proposal would significantly change the ancestral system and could be discussed but not implemented. However, when he heard Wei Guangde's suggestion of "buying out the title", his first reaction was that the changes would be even bigger and even less feasible.

However, considering the effect after implementation, it is still a way to directly solve a group of people with money, and then the problems of their descendants will be eradicated with this amount of money.

“Today in the cabinet, everyone can speak freely and do not need to be limited to this memorial.

The clan issue has become a major problem for the imperial court. If there is a way to solve it, even if it violates the ancestral system, we are just discussing the solution, and it does not violate the ancestral system. "

Li Chunfang interrupted at this time.

Since the Jiajing year, regarding the issue of official clans, courtiers have been constantly making suggestions to reform the clan system formulated by Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, but in the end they only made minor repairs, and in the end it was of no avail.

This time Qi Yuanzuo's memorial involved the ancestral system, so he called everyone to discuss it.

But it seems that everyone has been thinking about this for a long time, but they just haven't had the chance to discuss it.

This time I can take advantage of Qi Yuanzuo's opportunity to talk about it.

"I also thought from the sentence in Yuan Zuo's memorial, 'Anyone who cannot be granted a title will be given a certain amount of money and a title and uniform.' The court needs to limit the number of titles granted to the clan and try to reduce the number of people who can be granted titles.

This article is feasible, but it cannot be made public. It can only be suppressed by the Ministry of Rites who requested a memorial.

However, the imperial court can explicitly order each prince's palace, and if it cannot be sealed for a long time, the prince's palace can report to the court to give him a certain amount of capital and transfer his citizenship. If the seal is not given, the jade certificate will be withdrawn. "

Now that Wei Guangde had started, he simply said what he had thought before and what he had just thought. After all, Emperor Longqing had long asked him to come up with the charter regarding the clan affairs.

It's just that this matter was too difficult, so he never did it.

"It's too radical, even worse than Qi Yuanzuo."

Chen Yiqin shook his head and said.

Wei Guangde's method was actually to forcibly reduce the clan's population, transfer them to civil status, and use money to appease them.

"But I saw the changes in the clan's population in the Ministry of Rites. I remember that during the Zhengde period, there were only a few thousand members in the Jade Order, and now there are 30,000.

According to this calculation, in a few decades, it may not be more than 300,000. Where will the imperial court get the money to pay them? "

Wei Guangde directly pointed out the problem. Now the Lumi court with tens of thousands of people is stretched thin. When there are hundreds of thousands of people, what should be used to fill it?

"Remember during the Hongzhi period, someone once reported that the quasi-clan participated in the imperial examination?"

Zhang Juzheng said suddenly.

"During the Zhengde period, each royal palace established a religious school to teach the children of the clan to study the "Four Books", "Five Classics", "Historical Mirror", "Xingli", "Huang Ming Ancestors", "Filial Piety Facts" and other books. After passing the exam, you can apply to the court for a title and obtain a title.

But what about today’s sect?

What have those qualified clan members learned? "

Wei Guangde shook his head and smiled bitterly,

"The original intention of the person who came up with this idea was to limit the clan titles and titles. Perhaps he also wanted to attract clan members who could pass the imperial examination and gain the opportunity to serve as officials in the court, so that they could leave the clan and no longer receive awards. With that Lumi, the status changed from a clan to a family of officials.

Although the idea was good, it never came to fruition.

After the clan was converted to civilian status, the land and houses originally distributed by the court remained unchanged. They could still do business or take the imperial examination and become officials. Life should not be as difficult as it is now. "

In fact, during the Zhengde Dynasty, there were only a few thousand members of the clan. The Ming court had already felt the pressure from Lumi, so it formulated the system of religious examinations.

However, if the system is well designed, the implementation is different, and it has long existed in name only.

The unexpected death of Emperor Zhengde also led to the imperial court only promulgating a decree to establish a clan school. As for the subsequent decision to allow clan members to participate in the imperial examination, it was only Wei Guangde's guess.

However, Wei Guangde felt that rather than letting these candidates take the imperial examination with the name of the clan on their heads, it would be better to directly transfer them to nationality and take the examination with other candidates.

"Shan Loan, have you written this down?"

Chen Yiqin asked with a frown.

Wei Guangde shook his head, "They were all random thoughts when thinking about clan issues. There must be many mistakes and omissions in them, so there are no regulations. Today, they were just brought out by Yuan Zuo's memorial."

"It's negotiable, but it's not feasible. It makes sense."

Only at this moment did Zhang Juzheng suddenly understand what Wei Guangde had said before, that it was okay to discuss the clan system, but to really implement it, there were still many difficulties that needed to be solved one by one.

Thinking of this, Zhang Juzheng suddenly said: "Can Qi Yuanzuo's memorial be sent to all the yamen, so that all officials can discuss it first, and then each submit a charter for the reform of the clan? Let's brainstorm?"

"Regarding the clan, I remember that in the 41st year of Jiajing, there was Lin Runshu, the imperial censor, who discussed the sect's clan Lumi. At that time, the late emperor also sent the Ministry of Rites to convene ministerial meetings, some of which were later approved by the Ministry of Rites.

However, these changes could not change the overall situation after all, and the court was still troubled by Zongfan Lumi.

Qi Yuanzuo's memorial and Shandai's thoughts just mentioned can indeed reduce the number of people in the clan, which will naturally reduce the court's expenditure in this regard.

Although it is good, it would be very difficult for Your Majesty to change the ancestral system. "

Chief Assistant Li Chunfang said at this time, "Relatively speaking, Yuan Zuo's memorial may be more feasible.

After all, the extra clan members would not be granted titles, but they would still need to be granted a title by the court to recognize their clan status.

As for Shan Loan, I am afraid that not many people will be willing to directly replace the title with money.

Even if he accepts it, I'm afraid the money won't be short. The imperial court doesn't have that much money to cover this part of the expenses, and it will cause quite a turmoil in the clan. "

Of course, Li Chunfang understood that Wei Guangde's idea was to shift the pressure to the Ministry of Rites, dragging the clan's jade certificates without issuing them, and "publicly forcing" them to accept the buyout.

What will be the reaction from the clan?

That's unknown.

But it doesn't really matter to do these things. The key is that the court doesn't have the money.

When the time comes when people accept money in exchange for titles, what will you do if you can’t give them the money?

Just think about it and you will know that Wei Guangde's idea is even more unfeasible.

"Shandai, this idea must be a temporary one, right? What was your original plan?"

Zhang Juzheng asked at this time.

He didn't believe that Wei Guangde hadn't considered the clan issue, because he had also thought about the solution, but he just couldn't find it.

Since he is talking here today, he certainly hopes to hear more opinions from other people. Even if it is not feasible, he can broaden his horizons and maybe think of feasible strategies.

After hearing Zhang Juzheng's words, Li Chunfang and others' eyes returned to Wei Guangde.

They also had similar ideas and wanted to hear what Wei Guangde had to say.

Wei Guangde looked around and finally made up his mind to say what he had originally considered.

The impact of the clan issue in the Ming Dynasty was really too great, and it was not something that he, a little butterfly, could fan. It required the whole court and the nobles to reach a consensus before it could be solved.

"Actually, the first way I considered solving the clan problem was to clarify how much lumi each royal clan could receive from the province where it was located before the canonization, and the amount was also a permanent quota.

At the beginning of the canonization, the royal clan had a small number of people, so they could naturally receive a full amount of lumi, and the excess was transferred to the Ministry of Household Affairs.

When the number of members of the clan increases and this expenditure cannot fully satisfy member Lumi, it will be reduced according to the difference.

The more people in each royal family, the less Lumi they can get, and vice versa.

The imperial court issued treasure notes to make up for the shortfall in Lumi.

As for those royal palaces that have been canonized, they will calculate the share that the local government can bear based on the number of people holding the jade ultimatum when the edict was issued, and arrive at a fixed number. The rest will be the same as before. "

Wei Guangde expressed his original idea, which was actually a very novel approach. At least no one had proposed a similar idea before.

As for using treasure money to top up Lumi, it was because it catered to the imperial system.

In any case, there is no young clan member Lumi in the imperial court.

Although Wei Guangde felt that it was necessary to face up to the monetary system of the Ming Dynasty, and waste paper such as Baobao should be abolished, it seems that there is still residual value in making up for the difference in Lumi.

After he finished speaking, he looked around at everyone to see how they would react.

Li Chunfang and Chen Yiqin were both old gods, and their faces did not fluctuate much. Yin Shizhen nodded, and Zhang Juzheng frowned in thought.

"Okay, I've laid out some ideas, and the rest is up to you adults."

Wei Guangde said with a smile.

"The quota method can be discussed and perfected, and it is much better than my original idea."

Zhang Juzheng shook his head and said with a bitter smile: "I originally considered lowering the Lumi level and increasing the discount to solve the problem. Lumi is determined with reference to official salaries.

For example, the yearly salary of a general under the county king is equivalent to the salary of an official of the first rank, the second rank of an auxiliary general is the salary of a second-rank official, and so on. The salary of the lowest-ranking lieutenant of Fengguo is equivalent to the salary of a sixth-rank official.

As for folding color, it is the same as that of officials. "

After Zhang Juzheng finished speaking, everyone in the room nodded.

It should be noted that the Ming Dynasty did not set the rule that generals and lieutenants should have Lumi from the beginning, but it was only established in the Xuande Dynasty.

After all, how many generals were there before Xuanzong?

Zhu Yuanzhang only considered the salary of his sons and grandchildren, and did not consider how much salary his descendants would receive.

If he had established the system in the first place, perhaps Lao Zhu would have discovered the shortcomings of this system.

It's just a system established by the Xuande Dynasty. The generals of the country are paid a thousand dan per year, and each time they drop one level, the salary is reduced by 200 dan. The difference in salary is not big among high-ranking officials, but when it reaches the third rank or below, the income gap between the official and the clan is It expanded rapidly, and the annual salary of a sixth-rank Fengguo lieutenant exceeded the salary of a fourth-rank official in the imperial court.

Therefore, Zhang Juzheng proposed to distribute clan lumi according to the salary of imperial officials, which could actually reduce the expenditure by nearly half.

After Wei Guangde and Zhang Juzheng expressed their thoughts, Yin Shizhen had no better idea, and Chen Yiqin also shook his head.

"Everyone can think about the two methods of quota and salary reduction. I think they are both feasible."

After several people finished talking, Li Chunfang said: "It's just that the clan's citizenship transfer is probably very difficult to pass.

It should be noted that the Xuande Dynasty established a system. Firstly, descendants of the clan were prohibited from serving in official positions. Secondly, marriages in the royal palace were not allowed except for the conferment of Beijing positions.

If the clan is converted to civilian citizenship, it will inevitably conflict with these two articles, and how to determine the identity needs to be discussed.

As for Qi Yuanzuo’s memorial, what do you think you should do about it? "