Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 22 "On the Cutting Down of the Domain"

"The policy topic given by His Majesty is to cut down the vassal vassal, and the content is: 'I will use the captives to surrender to the king, so that the surrounding people will not move, and you will be at peace. If the captives are not in peace, the kings will control them; if the kings are not in peace, who will control them?' .”

In the small courtyard of the university, when Li Jinglong told Zhu Yuanzhang's original words to Zhu Gaoxu, he felt his blood run cold just after hearing the word "cutting the vassal" from Li Jinglong's mouth.

However, he quickly calmed down, because the topic of vassal reduction had not been quiet in the court in the past two years, and it was not a topic that could not be mentioned.

Zhu Gaoxu would not believe that there could be such a voice in the temple without Lao Zhu's acquiescence.

After all, ever since the King of Jin high-profile fight for the throne and the King of Zhou met with Feng Sheng in private, the topic of reducing the vassal status has become unavoidable.

But for most vassal kings, there is nothing terrible about cutting down the vassal, because the power directly under them is pitiful.

Without Zhu Yuanzhang's authorization, they would only have tens of thousands of soldiers and horses at hand, and they would not even have the power to govern a county. They could only live in the palace with a circumference of three miles and three miles.

From the perspective of an ordinary vassal king, it is very difficult to get out of the fiefdom with this little military power, let alone resist the imperial court.

Of course, those who hold this view do not include some powerful vassals, especially the Jin vassal who currently controls more than [-] troops along the Shanxi border.

Jin Wang Zhu Fan not only has a big fist, but also the power involved is huge.

Duke Ying Guo Fu Youde was his in-law, Yongping Marquis Xie Cheng was his father-in-law, and Dingyuan Marquis Wang Bi was his old friend.

What these three people can influence are hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses in the Shanshan, Shaanxi and Huaihe regions.

It is precisely because of this background that the king of Jin fought for the throne in a high-profile manner after the death of the former crown prince Zhu Biao.

If it weren't for the King of Yan and the King of Qin who were attacking him from both sides, I'm afraid the King of Jin would be out of control now.

"Jin and Yan are at odds with each other..." These four words flashed through Zhu Gaoxu's mind, like a flash of inspiration, and his thoughts suddenly became clear.

"This policy question is probably because Lao Zhu wants to use my hand to defeat my third uncle, and at the same time reassure the weak vassals in the world."

"If that's the case, it would be much easier..."

Zhu Gaoxu breathed a sigh of relief. As long as Lao Zhu was not targeting Yan Fan, he didn't have to worry.

As for hurting the Jin Mansion, Zhu Gaoxu was not worried at all.

As far as he knew, his third uncle, who was in the prime of his life, seemed to have only a few years to live, and the two of them might never have the chance to meet again in this life.

After thinking about everything clearly, Zhu Gaoxu began to think about how to write an article that would reassure all the vassals in the world and at the same time please Lao Zhu.

Zhu Gaoxu knew Lao Zhu's character well. Even though many of his sons violated laws and disciplines, he did not abolish their titles, let alone force his sons to death, but instead fined them or verbally reprimanded them.

Judging from these behaviors, Zhu Yuanzhang's first identity when facing the kings was not the emperor, but a father.

If Zhu Yuanzhang faced the kings as an emperor, then with his methods, he could have successfully reduced the vassalage without spending any energy on the Ming Dynasty during his lifetime, but historically he did not.

Even though King Zhu Fan of Jin fought for the throne in such a high-profile manner, Lao Zhu didn't let people kill him when he slapped Lao Zhu's old face in public, but ordered him to be scolded to relieve his hatred.

This kind of performance gives me a feeling of hating iron but not steel.

Therefore, what Lao Zhu wants to do to reduce the vassals must be gentle, rather than like Zhu Yunzhen, who wants to abolish all the vassals into common people and let them starve to death among the people.

It's important to watch people order food.

If today's topic was proposed by Zhu Yunwen, then Zhu Gaoxu would not hesitate to show his ruthless side to cater to Zhu Yunwen, in order to ensure that he would not become a thorn in Zhu Yunwen's side or a thorn in his flesh.

But the current question was proposed by Zhu Yuanzhang, so after Li Jinglong’s explanation, Zhu Gaoxu already knew how he was going to answer this question.However, the slight difficulty is how to satisfy Lao Zhu's needs while being gentle and gentle, without being disgusted by Zhu Yunwen and making himself the target of public criticism.

Regarding this issue, Zhu Gaoxu has already made plans in his mind.

Since he came through time travel, he has recalled Zhu Yunwen and Zhu Di's methods of reducing vassal status.

Many people understand Zhu Yunzhen's method of reducing vassal status, but many people do not understand Zhu Di's method of reducing vassal status.

Some people in later generations said that the favor orders of the Han Dynasty could not be used in the Ming Dynasty, because the Ming Dynasty vassal kings did not have the right to tax the land of the feudal state, but lived on the salaries issued by the court.

However, what they don't know is that although the vassal kings of the Ming Dynasty did not have the right to tax the land of the feudal state, they did have military power.

The military power of the vassal kings in the Ming Dynasty ranged from three guards to one guard.

Each guard can have as few as 3000 people, or as many as 600 at full strength. It may not seem like a lot, but when gathered together, it becomes a lot.

When Zhu Yunwen cut down the vassal vassal, Qi Tai, the minister of Gu Ming appointed by Zhu Yuanzhang before his death, had asked him to follow the method of pushing the favor order and reduce the military power of the vassal king, so that the vassal king would not have the strength to confront the court.

However, Zhu Yunwen did not choose Qi Tai's suggestion. Instead, he chose the suggestion of his teacher Huang Zicheng, believing that once the heavenly soldiers arrived, the vassal king would bow his head and obediently hand over his military power and wait for his defeat.

This choice directly led to the outbreak of the Battle of Jingnan.

After Zhu Di came to power, he not only had the same ideas as Qi Tai, but also supplemented many methods that Qi Tai had not thought of.

In the same way, when Zhu Di was not firmly on the throne, Zhu Di expressed his goodwill through the restoration of the feudal emperor Zhu Yun and the several vassal kings who were cut down by Zhu Yun, in exchange for the support of his brothers.

After he was firmly on the throne, he used various reasons to eliminate the three guards of these vassal kings.

For weak feudal lords, Zhu Di first warned them, and then took action to deprive them of their protection when they made another mistake.

For the powerful vassal, Zhu Di transferred some of the guards from the palace guards to serve as bodyguards for his children after they came of age. It was completely a "Ming Dynasty version of the order of favor", and it can be said that the method was quite clever.

Of course, the most important thing is that Zhu Di did not violate the ancestral system left by Zhu Yuanzhang. He never publicized the abolition of the vassal system like Zhu Yunwen, but only turned these powerful vassal kings into powerless vassal kings through major changes.

Even if he abolished the feudal clan, his reasons were very sufficient, leaving no excuses for the people below.

It can be said that Zhu Gaoxu can deliver a perfect answer as long as he slightly changes Zhu Di's policy of reducing vassals.

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu thought about it before slowly speaking: "I thought..."

Zhu Gaoxu laid out all the policies he had thought of to reduce the feudal vassal, with a calm expression on his face. He even had the leisure to sit aside and drink tea to soothe his throat when his mouth was dry.

However, Li Jinglong didn't care about this at the moment. He was completely immersed in Zhu Gaoxu's method of cutting down the feudal vassal.

No matter what he thought, he felt that what Zhu Gaoxu said was the best way for the Ming Dynasty to reduce its vassal status.

As long as the imperial court adopts it in the future, the reduction of vassals will not cause shock to the vassals at all.

Thinking of this, Li Jinglong's eyes softened a lot when he looked at Zhu Gaoxu:

"This son is really the humerus of my Ming Dynasty..."

　Huang Zicheng's real name is Huang Shi, and his courtesy name is Zicheng.

　　But for the sake of reading, just call Huang Zicheng directly in the third person.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)