Rebirth of Zhu Di's son

Chapter 294 King Jingjiang and King Wu
"The risk of going overseas to build a country is not small. Firstly, Prince Jingjiang's nephew was still young at the time, and secondly, Prince Wu's status is relatively special. If an accident occurs when the two go overseas, public opinion will be unfavorable to grandpa."

After Zhu Zhantang thought for a moment, he expressed his opinion.

Zhu Di laughed enigmatically, looked at Zhu Zhantang meaningfully and asked, "Tang'er, have you considered this issue before?"

"My grandson doesn't dare to hide it. I asked my father before why he didn't ask grandpa to transfer the title of Prince Jingjiang's nephew and Prince Wu's uncle to overseas."

Zhu Zhantang hesitated for a moment, but finally told me bluntly: "My father told me at the time that whether it was the nephew of the King of Jingjiang or the uncle of the King of Wu who had an accident on the way to the title of feudal lord, there would definitely be people with bad intentions who spread rumors that it was you who instigated it, grandpa." What you did.”

"What do you think about this?"

Zhu Di asked expressionlessly.

Zhu Zhantang said solemnly: "Uncle Wu Wang's identity is too special. To you, Grandpa, it is like Grandpa Zuo Jing (Zhu Wenzheng) was to Emperor Taizu."

Zhu Di smiled awkwardly, reached for a piece of dry firewood, and threw it into the stove.

Although the climate of the Peacock Peninsula is close to that of the Ming and Guangxi regions, the first month of this year was unusually cold for some reason.

At that time, Zhu Wenzheng was under house arrest by Zhu Yuanzhang, and finally died in depression, so many rumors spread.

If Wu King Zhu Yunzhen died in an accident, even worse rumors might emerge, saying that Zhu Di could not tolerate Zhu Biao's son and was worried that Zhu Biao's son would seize the throne in the future.

In fact, the reason why Zhu Di did not change the title of Zhu Yunxu, King of Wu, and Zhu Zuojing, King of Jingjiang, to establish the country overseas, in addition to the reasons mentioned by Zhu Zhantang, there is another reason that cannot be ignored, that is, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered "to change the title of various vassals" The "vassals" that established the Zhou Dynasty outside China did not include the Jingjiang vassal.

If Jingjiang Fan is included, then Wu Fan will naturally be included, and vice versa.

At the end of the ninth year of Hongwu, Zhu Shouqian, the first king of Jingjiang, embarked on the road to Guilin, Guangxi, holding the sacred tablet of his grandfather, King Nanchang.

At that time, Zhu Yuanzhang clearly stipulated: "The King of Jingjiang will earn [-] shi of rice per year, [-] yuan of banknotes, and half a prince for the rest."

This treatment was lower than that of a prince, but higher than that of all county kings at that time.

The treasure book Zhu Yuanzhang gave to his nephew Zhu Shouqian was also a gold book and gold seal similar to the prince's. This also highlighted the difference between King Jingjiang and other princes.

In addition, the princes of the Ming Dynasty did not have farms or guards, and they all relied on the princes for survival, but the Jingjiang Palace had farms, a royal city, guards, and a long history!
Even the gate shape of Jingjiang Prince's Mansion, Zhu Yuanzhang also authorized it to use princely regulations.

It is a pity that after Zhu Shouqian became a vassal, public resentment boiled over in Guangxi.

Zhu Yuanzhang then summoned Zhu Shouqian back to the capital to give him instructions in the 13th year of Hongwu.

But Zhu Shouqian did not repent, and instead wrote poems to ridicule, referencing the past and the present, and containing many grievances and resentments.

Zhu Yuanzhang was angry and deposed him as a commoner, and sent him back to his hometown in Fengyang to reflect and hope that he would change his ways.

Seven years later, in the 20th year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang thought that Zhu Shouqian must have reformed after experiencing so many hardships, so he restored his title and moved to Yunnan.

However, the first generation of Jingjiang King was really unable to support the wall. After he arrived in Yunnan, he quickly created a situation of "grievance between the army and the people". Zhu Yuanzhang had to recall him and still resettled him in Fengyang.

What was a big surprise was that Zhu Shouqian was still in his old ways, seizing herds of horses in Fengyang and rioting in the whole village.

Zhu Yuanzhang was furious, summoned Zhu Shouqian to the capital, whipped him and imprisoned him.

In this way, Zhu Shouqian died in depression in the first month of the 25th year of Hongwu without a posthumous title.

Later, Zhu Yuanzhang canonized Zhu Shouqian's eldest son Zhu Zanyi as the crown prince of Jingjiang, and began to repair the Jingjiang Palace and restore the Guangxi Guard. In the 27th year of Hongwu, he made a decision: "The Jingjiang Palace will be reduced by one rank compared to the Zhengzhi County Prince."

In other words, except for the eldest son of King Jingjiang, all his sons were granted the title of general of the country and his daughters were all granted the title of county principal.Once this rule comes out, in addition to the crown prince, the remaining sons of King Jingjiang will be demoted to the rank of general of the auxiliary state, and his daughter can only be granted the title of county monarch!
From the beginning, apart from the crown prince of the Jingjiang vassal, the remaining sons were only granted the title of general of the country, not the prince of the county.

It can be seen that the level Zhu Yuanzhang initially set for Jingjiang Fan was the county king.

However, Zhu Yuanzhang considered that Jingjiang Fan was, after all, the eldest son of the old Zhu family and had a special status, so he gave King Jingjiang a higher treatment on the basis of the county king.

Later, Zhu Yuanzhang revised the "Ancestral Instructions" in the last years of Hongwu, stipulating that all the prince's sons, except the eldest son, would be granted the title of county prince. Except for the eldest son, the other legitimate sons of the prince would be granted the title of general of the town, and the remaining sons would all be granted the title of auxiliary school captain (see the previous article). Chapter 143).

According to this version of "Ancestral Instructions" and the regulations of Zhu Yuanzhang in the 27th year of Hongwu, except for the eldest son of King Jingjiang, the other legitimate sons had to be demoted one level to the title of Fuguo Xiaowei, and the remaining sons were all granted the title of Fengguo lieutenant.

As a result, if we put aside the regulations that only princes have such as farm buildings, royal cities, guards, and long history, the status of Jingjiang clan during the Yongle period was far inferior to that of ordinary princes.

In the second year of Yongle, when Zhu Di awarded the book treasure to the second King of Jingjiang, Zhu Zanyi, the Ministry of Rites had already determined that King Jingjiang's treatment would be lower than that of the county king, and the proposed plan was to use gold-plated silver books and silver seals.

Although Zhu Di rejected the plan of the Ministry of Rites due to political considerations at that time and insisted on giving the gold book a gold seal according to the old system of the Hongwu period, the size of the book was smaller than that of the Hongwu period and was equivalent to the volume of the prince's book.

In the 13th year of Yongle reign, when Zhu Zuojing, the eldest son of Zhu Zenyi, attacked the throne, the Ministry of Rites suggested that he should only be given a silver seal lower than that of an ordinary county prince.

However, at Zhu Gaoxu's suggestion, Zhu Di changed it to a gold-plated silver seal, which was the same as the prince's, but continued to maintain the gold seal.

As for other things, such as King Jingjiang's crown uniform, chariot and chariot guard of honor, court greeting etiquette, etc., they are generally the same as those of the prince, and the number of officials and bodyguards also basically maintains the prince's regulations.

"Tang, you have to remember, the early bird catches the worm, but the early bird catches the worm."

Zhu Di pinched his eyebrows to clear away the messy thoughts in his mind, and then looked at Zhu Zhantang and sighed in confusion.

Zhu Zhantang felt that what Zhu Di said meant something else, and secretly wrote down this sentence.

"Jingjiang Fan has a special status, so your father allowed him to privately sign a tea sales contract with your uncle (Han Wang Zhu Gaochi)."

Zhu Di took a sip of hot tea and then said: "Tang'er, do you think it is necessary for your father to transfer your uncle Wu Wang and Jingjiang Wang's nephew to overseas?"

"Grandpa, although my grandson's uncle Wu Wang is a county king, he is also a prince. He has also been living in Zongwangfang, South Zhili these years, and is not as comfortable as the nephew of Jingjiang King."

Zhu Zhantang thought: "In my grandson's opinion, now that Prince Wu has embraced his grandson, it would not be a bad thing to move him overseas. As for the nephew of King Jingjiang, he can wait a few more years."

"Hahaha!"

Zhu Di laughed heartily for a few times, then reached out and patted Zhu Zhantang on the shoulder, and said: "My dear grandson, please go back and think about what grandpa and I just said to you."

"Grandson obeys."

Zhu Zhantang stood up respectfully and bowed.

Zhu Di frowned and said, "Here we go again. Between you and my grandson, who are you showing these false etiquette?"

"Grandpa, don't blame me. I haven't gotten rid of this habit for a while."

Zhu Zhantang scratched his head and said.

"Also, think about why your uncle, King of Han, would rather make the people dissatisfied than choose a concubine for your cousin Zhanji with great fanfare?"

Zhu Di began to assign homework and said, "I will test you on this question next time."

(End of this chapter)