Why did the emperor rebel?

Chapter 1040
It should be said that Zhu Yi was cautious enough.

Even if he didn't know that King Zhou and King Lu were sitting behind the screen, what he said and did was only a little out of line, and more importantly, he didn't leave any evidence, just verbal persuasion.

But this is not the key point, because from the time Yi Wang called Zhou Wang over, he had actually made a plan. No matter what Zhu Yi said, did, or what kind of "sincerity" he showed Will not be persuaded by it.

It's not easy!
You know, in the current situation, the imperial court has just finished the big policy of rectifying the military settlements, and slashed at the vassal king. There will be no karma in the world.

From King Yi's point of view, he actually lost a large amount of wealth, and that's not all. After the rectification of the army, the court turned its attention to the clan affairs, planning to reform the clan and further reduce the clan The privilege of the king is clearly aimed at.

Even King Yi himself wanted to return to the fief in a safe and secure manner as soon as possible, and this request was blocked by the Ministry of Rites.

All the piles are things that actually harm his own interests, so for King Yi, he has every reason to be resentful and dissatisfied with the court.

This is indeed the case. Judging from the incident that the kings collectively directed at Yu Qian, the resentment in their hearts is indeed not small.

But the interesting point is that even under such circumstances, these vassal kings still clearly distinguish the court from the royal family.

It is impossible for them not to know that whether it is the rectification of the army or the reform of the vassal, there is the emperor Zhu Qiyu's inspiration behind it, or at least the existence of tacit approval.

In fact, the reason why Zhu Yi went to the ten princes' mansion was also based on this calculation.

However, this can be regarded as being in the court for too long, so he is blindfolded and habitually uses his own thinking to consider the thoughts of the vassal kings.

In Zhu Yi's view, or in other words, many honorable ministers, even Zhu Qizhen himself, habitually feel that the court and the emperor are one, especially in the case of the emperor's nod in various major policies. Now, the imperial court counting the vassals is tantamount to the emperor calculating the vassals.

Pushing it down from this, the two are naturally on the opposite side. At this time, Zhu Yi came to the door, and based on the principle that the enemy of the enemy is the friend, the possibility of cooperation is very high.

The vassal king took advantage of the power of the Supreme Emperor in the court to prevent the imperial court from reforming the suzerain vassal, and the Supreme Emperor gained the favor of the vassal king, and at the same time, achieved a certain purpose of his own. The two were mutually beneficial and had the same position.

It should be said that in most cases, this idea is correct.

However, it just didn't work on King Yi. What's the reason?

In fact, it is in that sentence that has been said so badly, that no one believes in the close relationship, the blood relationship.

This sentence has been said countless times, but among the conflicts of interests in the court, the so-called friendship is actually nothing more than an exchange of interests.

However, the vassal king is different after all.

Of course, Zhu Qiyu was not so naive as to think that there was really any kind of family relationship between him and these vassal kings who had hardly met each other.

The so-called blood relationship does not refer to the real blood bondage. What really binds them is the patriarchal family system that has become more and more complete and deeply rooted since Cheng Zhou.

Bloodline is just a bond, but this bond completely distinguishes them from the civil and military ministers of the imperial court.

With it, when these vassal kings consider things, they will subtly have a tendency to stand.

In fact, this is also the difference between handling affairs in the clan and many government affairs of the imperial court.

Under the enfeoffment system, the biggest feature is that in the eyes of these vassal kings, the emperor Zhu Qiyu is first a descendant of the Zhu family and their relatives, and then the emperor of Ming Dynasty, the lord of the country.

This order is very important, because the emperor and the clan are first of all relatives, so when dealing with many related affairs, it is not the justice of the law, but the affection of relatives.

To put it bluntly, if one's own family members make mistakes, they can be taught a lesson, but if they are stern and selfless, they will be severely punished, and they will be stabbed in the back.

This is also why King Yi's evil deeds were many, but the court only reprimanded him repeatedly, without any substantive punishment. However, King Min was drunk and wrote a poem slandering the Temple of Ren, which attracted several county kings of the Min Fan to be prepared. The reason for being implicated.

To put it bluntly, King Min slandered not only the emperor, but also the eldest son of the Zhu family, who holds the ancestor Yugui in his hand, and is the patriarch of the main line of the patriarchal clan.

Therefore, whether as a courtier or as a relative, this is a serious crime.

Under this order, unless it involves a serious crime such as treason, otherwise, the emperor must uphold a principle in handling clan affairs, that is, family law takes precedence over national law, which is also the reason why many vassal kings can obtain super high privileges. The core reason lies.

However, the restraint of this bond is two-way, restraining both the emperor and the clan of the vassal king.

Normally, this kind of restriction is reflected in the privileges that the vassal king can enjoy when he violates the national law. However, in special cases, this kind of restriction is reflected in the recognition and submission of the vassal king's clan to the authority of his patriarch after Zhu Qiyu inherited the throne.

This is the so-called unity of family and country.

For the civil and military officials of the imperial court, they regard the country as their family, and they regard the king as their father. However, for the vassal kings and clans, they use their family as their country, and they serve the elders who hold jade kui as the king. .

Because of this, they will clearly distinguish between the imperial court and the emperor, and they will try to obstruct the imperial court's decrees that are not in their interests, but when it comes to clan matters, they will use the emperor's Follow the lead.

So what Zhu Yi said is useful for other ministers, but it doesn't work for King Yi.

Because these vassal princes, including King Yi, are used to putting themselves on the position of oneness of He Tian's family first when considering problems. To put it bluntly, they think that the emperor is their own, a relative, and what others say is extravagant , that are all outsiders.

From this point of view, King Yi's first choice is to come to Zhu Qiyu to ask about the situation, instead of listening to the 'provocation' of outsiders like Zhu Yi.

This is due to his long-term subconsciously influenced concept, perhaps Yi Wang himself can't explain it clearly.

He didn't even think that his subconscious choice was the real one, which allowed the feudal lord to find a new way out.

For Zhu Qiyu, he had been thinking about the role of the feudal kings in Daming, or in other words, compared with the civil and military ministers of the imperial court, what special and irreplaceable features did these feudal kings have?

This question has troubled him for a long time, but now, Zhu Qiyu feels that he can faintly touch the edge.

Among the vassal kings, there are naturally some ambitious people, but under the current vassal king system, most of the vassal kings are loyal enough to Daming.

Moreover, unlike the ministers in the court, they are loyal to the Zhu family, like Yu Qian and others. Of course they are loyal to Daming, but they may not be loyal to the royal family.

When Emperor Chongzhen hanged himself, there were many ministers who opened the doors to welcome the new emperor in the Forbidden City.

Therefore, for these vassal kings, they can live a stable life only when the Zhu family is stable in the world. The courtiers protect the world, and the vassal kings protect the Zhu family.

Of course, at the same time, Zhu Qiyu can clearly realize that he and the Zhu family are not the same, but this is all for later.

Just talking about the issue of the vassal king, after realizing this, Zhu Qiyu felt that many problems were actually solved.

Since the core interests of Zhu Qiyu and these vassals are the same, there is a lot more room for flexibility in terms of specific means.

This is also a road that Zhu Qiyu has seen in the past, and the emperors of all dynasties have never tried it, but for some reason, he always feels that this is the key to breaking the game.

Seeing that Zhou Wang and others still did not believe him, Zhu Qiyu was not unhappy.

Because the core of all suzerainty reforms in the past was to restrict the vassal kings. It is indeed abnormal to moderately decentralize power like this now. If he were a vassal king, he would not dare to accept it.

That being the case, he has to act both hard and soft.

"I still say the same thing. All the officials in the court are talking about it. Even if I am the emperor, I always have to take it into consideration."

"If the kings are still the same as before and have no achievements in state affairs and civil affairs, then even if I can suppress this time, I will not be able to suppress the future."

"In the long run, the reform of suzerain and vassal is imperative!"

This……

King Zhou, King Lu and the others looked at each other with surprise and uncertainty in their eyes.

The emperor's words almost made it clear that he had to either accept the reform charter drawn up by the Ministry of Rites, or he had to participate in disaster relief and play his own role, so that the court could see that the vassal king was not completely useless.

Of course they can understand this truth, but the problem is...

Can you really take this job?
Frowning and pondering for a moment, King Zhou spoke after deliberating.

"Your Majesty clearly learned that if you serve the country, your ministers will naturally have a duty to do so. However, the public opinion in the court is unpredictable. If the ministers keep their own way, the courtiers may criticize the ministers as useless to the country. If they appease one party, the courtiers may criticize them. Bad."

"It's not that the ministers are unwilling to contribute, but it's actually a dilemma between the two. They can only control the two evils. They only guard one side for His Majesty. They are always waiting for the court's call, and dare not do anything else."

Saying this, King Zhou himself was in a cold sweat.

Because it couldn't be more obvious.

Each of them was born with a golden spoon in their mouths. They were well-clothed and well-fed since they were young. They have everything they want, but they just can’t do things. It’s not that they are unwilling to participate in local civil affairs disaster relief, and they are even very willing to do something. matter.

After all, if there is a choice, who would like to stay at home for the rest of their lives and do nothing?

But, no!
The lessons of the Jingnan battle were too deep, so, as a lineage of Yan Fan, the defense against other princes has penetrated into the bones.

No matter how sincere the emperor said now, it is still too difficult to convince them that the imperial court has withdrawn their guard against them.

Seeing Zhou Wang and others repeatedly rejecting, Zhu Qiyu sighed, with a hint of disappointment in his expression, said.

"Since that's the case, then I won't force my uncle anymore. If my uncle doesn't want to participate in disaster relief in person, then I can use another method."

King Zhou and the others felt a little melancholy.

They originally thought that with such a firm attitude, even if the emperor had any doubts, he should have dispelled them.

But who would have thought that the first half of the emperor's sentence was normal, but the second half of the sentence changed the subject. Obviously, he still didn't intend to let them go.

Just at this time, Wynn turned back and reported from the side.

"Report to Your Majesty, the kings have already received orders outside the palace."

So, Zhu Qiyu nodded and said.

"Call it in, go and call Wang Cheng and Song Wenyi together."

Therefore, Zhou Wang and others were relieved, and there were more people. In the end, if the emperor was furious if he didn't deal with it properly, it would be good for someone to share it.

When they came back to their senses, they were at a loss when they heard the names of the two people mentioned by the emperor...

"Meet Your Majesty!"

Not long after, Huai En led several vassal kings into the hall. After the salutes were completed, Zhu Qiyu said.

"Several uncles entered the palace today and talked with me about the drought this year. They were all very worried. In order to relieve the people's distress and the country's worries, several uncles volunteered to donate a total of [-] shi of grain for disaster relief. I am very relieved .”

This opening remark immediately caused the eyes of the kings to widen, and they turned their attention to King Zhou and others.

Unexpectedly, King Zhou and the others were also surprised...

Didn't you say no, Your Majesty?
The old princes coughed lightly and looked at each other, but they didn't speak.

The emperor has spoken, they can't say no, otherwise, the end will be miserable.

But this tacit expression fell into the eyes of the other kings, but they felt that they must have reached some kind of deal with the emperor.

King Yi was not surprised. On the way they came, they also heard some news. It was said that the Ministry of Rites wanted to keep him in Beijing. In order to return to the fief as early as possible, it is not incomprehensible to spend money to avoid disaster.

However, Zhou Wang and Lu Wang, they will not have any reason to pinch in the hands of the emperor, right?

Or, is it for the reform of the suzerain vassal?
However, if this matter could be resolved with some food, then why did they put in so much effort before?

In doubt, the first emperor continued to speak, saying.

"However, these grains are the annual salary of several uncles. It is a good thing to use them for the common people. However, I feel that it is not necessary to hand them over to the imperial court, but to coordinate with the local government to organize disaster relief."

? !
As soon as these words came out, the eyes of all the kings present widened immediately, with incredible incredulity in their eyes.

Zhou Wang and these people, are they bewitching the emperor?
Let the feudal king directly participate in the court's disaster relief?

The thought turned around in his mind, and King Min at the side immediately stepped forward and said.

"Your Majesty, this may be inappropriate..."

However, before he finished speaking, he was interrupted by the emperor.

"You don't need to talk about Uncle Min, what should be said, just now Uncle Zhou and others have already said it, and they don't agree with it, my idea..."

(End of this chapter)