Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 1181 There is a queen mother behind King Lu

Where is King Lu?

Qi Jiguang's first reaction when he heard the word "Lu Wang" was "What kind of demon moth has come out of Lu Wang?"

Gao Wushi could see what he was thinking from his expression, but Qi Jiguang misunderstood this time.

"It's not what King Lu did this time." Gao Wushi shook his head with a smile, and said, "It's an official from the Ministry of Rites who talked about the country that King Lu should have long since stayed in the capital. Disagreement. Therefore, I asked the emperor for the specific time of King Lu's kingdom."

Qi Jiguang asked: "Then how does the emperor answer?"

Gao Wushi raised his eyebrows slightly: "Of course the emperor didn't reply immediately, but as far as I know, the emperor took the memorial from the Ministry of Rites to ask the Empress Dowager Cisheng for instructions."

"What does the Queen Mother mean?" Qi Jiguang asked again.

"What's the meaning of the Queen Mother?" Gao Wushi shook his head: "She naturally wishes that King Lu would just stop leaving..."

Qi Jiguang frowned: "I'm afraid it won't work?"

"Of course not. The ancestral system of the country is here. How can there be any reason for the vassal king to grow up and not rule the country? How did Zhu Gaoxu's misfortune happen in the past? Even if the Queen Mother didn't know, wouldn't the Emperor know?"

However, Qi Jiguang was silent for a while, and then he sighed: "The emperor may know, but before Lu Wang's wedding, the emperor used three thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine taels of gold of various colors, more than eight thousand and seven hundred blue rubies, and twenty-four thousand coral pearls. The remaining ones cost 860 taels of silver... a total of more than 10 taels of silver was spent, and you, Sima, know about these things."

Gao Yushi gently closed his eyes, but did not answer.

Qi Jiguang sighed again, and said: "Right now, Prince Lu's Mansion is almost finished. It is said that just repairing the house cost another five or six million taels? This is not counted as land, after all, land is bestowed... The last general is just worried , this country that King Lu has been reluctant to become a vassal, then his palace will probably continue to be repaired like this, how much will it cost?"

Gao Wushi still closed his eyes, but he replied: "The budget of Prince Lu's Mansion is more than 67 taels of silver, but this amount will definitely not be able to be met. Even if the people below control the repair, the final completion will definitely exceed 70 taels... ...If 70 can be stopped, that is not bad, I am afraid that the bottom line in the emperor's heart may be more than 70, and maybe another [-] will be added."

Qi Jiguang squeezed his fists, suppressed his breath and said, "We didn't spend 80 taels for this battle between Yunnan and Burma, did we?"

Surely not.Under the highly pragmatic operation, the imperial court actually spent some temporary money in this battle, and even made a lot of surplus in the long run.

Besides, even the temporary expenses did not exceed 80 taels—the prepared military pay was about the same amount, but since Liu Ting and Deng Zilong's troops only marched into the vicinity of Ava City, the main battles in the south and central regions were led by Huang Zhiting. The Annan Expeditionary Force led by him was completed, so the salary was far from spent.

Gao Wushi said indifferently: "The part that was spent on the eight classics was only about 37 taels, and later on rewards and other things were spent, so the total is 40 taels."

The corner of Qi Jiguang's mouth twitched, and he sighed: "Such a war of destroying the country only cost 40 taels, but it would cost 80 million taels for King Lu to build a palace. This is... well, the last general seems to have something in his heart." I want to say something, but think about it carefully, but I can’t say it.”

Of course Gao Wushi knew what Qi Jiguang wanted to say. If the imperial court used the money to raise troops and train them, this year... oh, not this year, it’s already winter, and it’s not suitable to go out to fight in the fortress—but after the spring of next year, with this money, I’m afraid Enough to enter Chahanhot.

"Mr. Nantang, there are some things, you and I know the crux of the problem, but knowing the crux of the problem may not be able to prescribe the right medicine. This is like me being a doctor. I know that someone is suffering from a disease, but if that person refuses to ask me to treat it, You may even think that I'm just scaremongering, I can't rush over and tie him up, and then forcibly heal him, don't you think so?"

The reason is naturally the same, and Qi Jiguang also understands it, so he just shook his head slightly: "If Shao Sima can't do anything, then it seems that this matter is really hopeless."

"A gentleman can't think of his position." Gao Wushi said: "After all, I am only the Minister of the Ministry of War. What I can do right now is to try my best to handle the affairs of the Imperial Guard. When the court can launch a thunderous blow, the Imperial Guard The army can also go out of the pass and show its prestige on the grassland."

Qi Jiguang nodded, and said: "The last general should try his best to train his troops, so as to live up to the expectations of the young Sima."

Gao Wushi said: "This is not my wish alone, it is the wish of everyone in the government and the public." Then he paused: "What did you say just now?"

Qi Jiguang replied: "Speaking of the emperor, I will ask the Empress Dowager Cisheng for instructions."

"Oh, yes." Gao Wushi nodded, and suddenly laughed: "Mr. Nantang might as well guess what the Empress Dowager Cisheng said."

Qi Jiguang shook his head and said, "Young Sima, this late general dare not make random guesses."

Gao Wushi laughed lightly: "Okay, then I'll just say it straight - the Empress Dowager Cisheng said: 'Although there is no age limit in the kingdom of vassal kings, it is usually after a big wedding. The Ai family understands this. However, Although the state of the country is the ancestral system, but the emperor said before that King Jing's property was transferred to King Lu. I don't know if King Lu has got it now? If he got it, then Aijia has nothing to say, and of course he agrees with King Lu. But If you didn't get... the emperor, you wouldn't watch your brother go to Weihui to drink the northwest wind, would you?"

When Qi Jiguang heard this, his expression immediately changed, and he said in a deep voice, "King Jing's property is still in the court's hands? How did the general hear about it..."

Gao Wushi said indifferently: "King Jing's property has long been gone, and it has been returned to the local people."

Qi Jiguang was stunned, hesitantly said: "Does the Empress Dowager Cisheng know about this?"

"If she doesn't know, why would she ask this question?" Gao Wushi curled his lips and said, "If my expectations are correct, someone might be behind the scenes to advise the queen mother on this matter. As for the reason, one is to delay the time of King Lu's kingdom. Second, even if it can't be delayed, it can still make King Lu rich and happy to become a feudal vassal."

Qi Jiguang was stunned for a while, then sighed, but didn't speak again.

In fact, Gao Yushi has carefully recalled how many rewards and properties Lu Wang has received in history, and he even took the whole matter seriously several times.

In the early years of the Ming Dynasty, there were very few additional rewards for the royal family. Everything was done according to the standards set by Zhu Yuanzhang. become custom.

After Xuande, due to the experience and lessons of the Jingnan Battle and Gaoxu’s Rebellion, the imperial court’s policy of guarding against the clan became more and more strict, and the guards and military power of the various domains were deprived one after another. Extravagant Houlu".

The princes and county kings could not and did not dare to do anything politically, so they turned to the direction of amassing wealth and expanding estates by unscrupulous means.

During this period, the imperial court was also willing to deprive the princes of their political rights by giving them generous salaries. Therefore, petitions became more and more popular, and the amount of land rewards gradually increased.

Under such circumstances, Zaofeng Wangfu used its privileges to annex a large amount of land by means of extortion, donation, and occupation.The kings of later feudal dynasties followed the early feudal mansions in terms of property, trying to catch up with or surpass the early feudal mansions before and after the feudal lordship.

During the Chenghua period, the amount of land requested and approved by the kings of De, Chong, Ji, and Hui in the feudal domain reached thousands of hectares, and the pace of annexing land by the princes' mansions was greatly accelerated.

As far as Zhu Zaizhen, King Jinggong of the Jiajing Dynasty (the one who competed with Longqing during the Yuwang period), with Sejong's favor, he took advantage of the country's opportunity to obtain [-] hectares of land and a large amount of rent and mine salt tax by means of petitions.

No matter how the courtiers at the time opposed the boycott, Jiajing ignored it, so King Jing still set a precedent for large-scale acquisition of land through petitions.

At present, King Lu is Zhu Yijun's only brother from the same mother. The government and the public call him "the head of all the vassals" and "all the vassals watch over him".

Gao Yushi remembers that in the original history, King Lu did not become a feudal clan now. He only formally became a feudal clan in the 17th year of Wanli.

Zhu Yijun has always been responsive to King Lu's requests for memorials, and this time, of course, he gave exactly what he asked for, and ordered the relevant courts, divisions, roads, and governments to copy the original amount of Jingfu Zhuangtian from the household department and transfer it to the counties. The amount of money and food that should be paid.

The problem is that when he was King Jing, because of the confuse and contribution of traitors, it was a vain name, and the amount of property under his name was already very large.Hong Qidao, who was the magistrate of Huangpi County at the time, said: "In the previous years, when the Jingfu was suing, there were many traitors who contributed, and there were private lands."

Moreover, it has been 24 years since the state of Jing Fan was removed to the state of King Lu, and the real number originally belonging to King Jing will definitely only decrease, not increase. "History of the Ming Dynasty" contains: "The vassal of the king of King Jing has died of illness. The stage played the tens of thousands of acres of fields occupied by Jingfu and returned them to the people, and the people of Chu were very happy."

The emptiness of Jingfu was originally [-] hectares, but Xu Jie "sold out tens of thousands of hectares and returned them to the people" after the country was abolished, indicating that basically all—or at least most of them were returned to the original owners , or those who return the land to the tenants take classes as errands.

For example, in Huangpi County, after the death of King Jing, "the fields returned to the people". In the ninth year of Wanli in history, after the land was measured, it had been "fully registered".It shows that the land of Yuan Jingfan has been included in the national book, and the land belongs to the private taxpayers.

Therefore, when King Lu played to discuss the inheritance of King Jing, "the court, department, road, and household department of the government copied the numbers of Jingfu Zhuangtian and other items, and transferred them to the county Zhang to survey and delimit the boundary." And the county "is near Sheyuan Township. According to the Ministry of Zhumuling, [-] hectares of rented land were harvested and cut, and the rent was collected according to the original Jingfu rent collection dragon ticket.

Therefore, the allocation and survey work of Zhuangtian in Luwangfu was actually the original emptiness of Zhijingfu. According to the records of the household department files, the original counties of Jingfu Zhuangtian were forced to plunder the people's property out of nothing!The move aroused strong resistance from the ruling and opposition parties.

But the villagers "changed their colors when they heard about it", and gathered at the meeting of the gentry to invite the government and county to ask for reassignment or reduction of exemption;

In August of the 16th year of Wanli, the Ministry of Household Affairs pointed out in the reply to the title of the Shangshu that it wanted to "return the grain-paying land that was originally cultivated by private tenants in the Jingfu to "return to the Luwang Mansion, fearing that it would be a national lesson and a disease for the people's livelihood." It is required that "the Huguang lake land, rivers, and state pits that were originally privately owned should still be returned to the owners."

However, for the purpose of "watching and watching", Zhu Yijun, regardless of the opposition of the local government and ministers, issued an order: "Zhuangtian is allowed to be granted, and the officials and Zhang will be surveyed and established, so that they can be observed forever." You might as well give it a few more, and I will be friendly and sympathetic."

In the specific allocation and survey work, it is not easy to turn the decades-long virtual amount into a real number, although there is a clear purpose. There are still great difficulties and obstacles, and it cannot be carried out smoothly.

Wanli was furious about this, and seized the salaries of officials below the prison and division levels, and affected officials in relevant prefectures and counties, such as Wang Yinggan, Chief Secretary Zuo Chief Secretary, Zhao Qintang, who guarded Wuchang Daozuo and participated in politics, etc., and relevant officials were all suspended. Pay salary.

Under such pressure, the relevant ministers and workers who were deprived of their salaries had to "respect the emperor's love for Zhou relatives", "examine and prepare with great painstaking efforts", "all the officials have tried their best to search for it, and the locals have seen the situation of fishing for exhaustion". Finally, the imaginary number of Jingfu is changed to the real number of Lufu.

In the 21st year of Wanli, the title of the Ministry of Household Affairs was: "The Lu Mansion's memorial to discuss the legacy of the Jing Mansion has already been cleared by the Dao and the Mansion to make up for the rent. Please open the salary of the officials. From this." It can be seen from this that the investigation work finally made Lu After the king and emperor were satisfied, the officials whose salaries were suspended were reinstated.

In this way, it took five years from the beginning of Lu Wang's memorial in August of the 16th year of Wanli to the end of the survey work in October of the 21st year. Lu Wang finally obtained [-] hectares of land and a large amount of rent, mine pits, and salt taxes.

In fact, since the mid-Ming Dynasty, the trend of dedication has become more and more popular.In the early years of King Jing's Kingdom, the number of donations was already quite astonishing.

During the Wanli period, the trend of dedication became more intense, and even in the 34th year of Wanli's "Shang Shengma's Emblem Ceremony and Responsibility to the World", it was specifically stated: "Because of the hardships of work, the small people put their land into the palace to hope for allusions. ... The common people It is not allowed to privately sell the land to the palace, except for the front-end buyers, and the family members will guard it. If there are still mistakes, the common people will be punished, and the head of the clan, Shi Qiwang, will issue an order." It shows that the dedication has become a matter of serious concern to the court. question.

The main target of the contribution is the privileged palace.At that time, Lu Mansion, which was the head of the feudal vassals, had a lot of Naxian.In addition, the history of various royal residences seizing and embezzling private property is endless, and it is common in the places where the princely villages are located.

It is also said in the "Edict of the Holy Mother's Emblem, Ritual and Responsibility to the World": "Some tyrannical and powerful sects often leave the city without authorization, and occupy land in various states and counties, and some officials don't ask if they know it."

However, the farmland in Lufu is widely distributed, interspersed with the people's land, connected with traitors, and the things of buying and occupying the people's land often happen.

Hu Zhonglan took Sheyuan Township, Huangpi County as an example in "Wang Zhuang Yi" and said: Lu Mansion fought for King Jing's inheritance and scraped 607 hectares of land within [-] miles of the township, but "(Lu Mansion) tenants suffered from Rents are heavy, and the territory we are fighting for is [-] miles. Don't think that there are tens of acres of land within the [-] miles. The original amount of the Jingfu is only [-] acres. How can it be as much as [-] miles? Many tenants want to increase their fields. To reduce rents, the common people do not want to cede land to make heavy losses. Over the past few years, it is difficult to determine why this has happened."

The tenants of Lu Mansion still fight for the property in the name of Qishili, let alone Lu Wang Mansion?If there is no King Lu's mansion as the backstage, how can the tenants' disputes make the department unable to deal with it for several years?It's just that Hu Zhonglan only dared to talk about the tenants, not the Lufu.

It can be seen from this that there are not a few incidents in which the Lu government seized, bought, and embezzled private property.Wang Yuquan said, "There are only a few ways for the princes of the Ming Dynasty to obtain Zhuangtian: imperial gifts, petitions, offerings, seizures, and direct occupation." Looking at the reasons and processes for the formation of Zhuangtian in the Luwang Mansion, there are only a few ways.Among them, the [-] hectares of land approved by King Lu and approved by Zhu Yijun are the main ones, followed by a certain amount of donations and occupations.

There are so many twists and turns in this, how could Empress Dowager Li, a woman who has been serving the palace since she was a child, know so clearly?That's why Gao Yushi said that someone was giving advice to Queen Mother Li behind her back.

The two were silent for a while at the same time, Qi Jiguang finally couldn't help it, and asked: "The person behind the Queen Mother is Li Wenjin?"
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PS: In the early days of this book, a friend asked Lu Wang how much money the Ming Dynasty spent. At that time, I said that I would write about it later... Well, this chapter is basically the answer.

(End of this chapter)