People in the Ming Dynasty are lawless

Chapter 217 The index increases explosively! The number of clans frightened all the princes! !

Chen Han couldn't help laughing when he heard King Jin say such things.

I never expected that King Jin would be such a man who could act according to the circumstances.

When they were at the door just now, they clearly heard King Jin say that he wanted to unite all the brothers.

Give Chen Han a showdown during this meeting.

Let him know that these princes are not easy to mess with.

In fact, Chen Han knew it from outside.

It must be because he advocated reducing the salaries of the princes to pave the way for reform.

Let all the officials know that the court is now targeting the clan and vassal kings first. In this case, even if the scholars and landlords suffer losses due to the diversion, they will not be able to say anything.

Therefore, these clan lords felt that they had been stabbed for no reason.

Of course I have some tempers in my heart, and I even want to embarrass myself in this meeting.

They even said that they would not be afraid even if His Highness the Crown Prince supported them.

But what I didn't expect was that the slap in the face would come so quickly.

The reason why Chen Han wanted to call the prince Zhu Biao, who was his father-in-law, also understood.

If I deal with these clan kings alone, they will definitely want to eat me in one bite.

So he called his father-in-law.

Sure enough, the effect was very good. As soon as Prince Zhu Biao took action, all the princes lowered their heads.

He didn't even admit that he had just said that.

King Jin did something like this at this time, which made his brothers despise him extremely.

But he himself still didn't restrain himself at all.

Instead, he said loudly, "Don't worry, brother, I will take good care of these brothers.

Now you are busy with everything, helping dad handle national affairs.

The second brother was imprisoned in Fengyang Zhongdu Mansion because he made a mistake.

Then I don’t care who takes care of the remaining brothers, right?

I have to take some responsibility for you, otherwise these brothers below will get into trouble. "

The more he spoke, the more enthusiastic he became. He didn't even see the younger brothers rolling their eyes and almost knocking him over.

I've seen shameless people, but I've never seen such shameless people.

Obviously it was you who said just now that you should join forces to give Chen Han a blow.

Let him know everyone's depth.

Let him give up some rights in the Daming Chamber of Commerce.

I didn't expect him to be so flattering.

After hearing this, Prince Zhu Biao almost burst into laughter. He pointed at the brothers below and said, "Look at their expressions. Which one doesn't want to swallow you up?"

King Jin looked at the expressions of the younger brothers below and saw that everyone rolled their eyes at him.

That means you are really shameless.

But Prince Jin was really shameless, he held his head high and said: "Brother, I just tested them to see what they are like.

Now let me test it out clearly for you, these people all act according to the prevailing circumstances.

I have always emphasized that even though Chen Han has reduced our salaries a lot.

But it doesn’t matter, because in my heart, I feel that the whole family should work together.

How can we embarrass our niece-in-law because of a little money matter?

If your niece-in-law doesn't act like a biological uncle, then if you don't support him, it will embarrass him. "

Pooh! !

The younger brothers collectively sighed, and Xiang King Zhu Bai even raised his hands and said loudly, "Brother, I want to report it. That's not what the third brother said just now.

He said that we should unite to give Chen Han, his niece's son-in-law, a show of strength. He also vowed that he would definitely become tougher.

But it’s obviously not possible now…”

Before he finished speaking, everyone was laughing so hard that they couldn't stand up straight.

Prince Jin's face suddenly turned as red as a monkey's butt, and he rushed forward: "Xiao Twelve, you bastard, I'm going to strangle you to death!"

Everyone was immediately happy.

Chen Han saw that all the descendants of Lao Zhu's family showed a very harmonious scene when the eldest brother Zhu Biao was still there.

This is really much better than the relationship between the emperor brothers in other families.

Because judging from some of the history behind it.

Lao Zhu's family education is quite successful.

No matter how much quarrel they had, they would rarely take advantage of their own family members.

Unless you do something too extraordinary, such as rebelling, or causing anger and resentment.

And they are basically imprisoned, not killed directly.

This trend should have been formed since Zhu Yuanzhang.

And looking at how happy everyone is now, it can also be seen that even if they don't see each other on weekdays, they should still exchange letters and communicate with each other.

Otherwise, we wouldn't have such a tacit understanding as soon as we met.

After everyone was fooling around for a while, Zhu Biao said: "Okay, now let me introduce you."

As he spoke, Prince Zhu Biao began to introduce all the princes to Chen Han.

After the introduction, Chen Han was called in front of him, "This is the son-in-law of our Lao Zhu family, and he will be our Lao Zhu family's family from now on.

And what I called you here to discuss today is really, as the third child said, a matter for our family.

Since we are one family, we don't talk about the two families. The eldest brother knows that your salary has been reduced, and you are more or less unhappy in your heart.

I think this is the punishment given to you by my father and my eldest brother, just to get the court to agree to share the land with the whole family, so that they have nothing to say.

To be honest with you, this is one aspect.

On the other hand, let Chen Han explain to you why he did this.

At the same time, I would like to give you the bottom line here. Today’s meeting will determine how much benefit all clans in our family will receive in the future. "

Saying this immediately made the princes interested.

I guess I'm still a little bit unconvinced in my heart.

How can one meeting decide our lives from now on?

This is also a bit too exaggerated.

As he spoke, Zhu Biao asked all the brothers to sit down.

The stage was given to Chen Han.

Chen Han stood in front of about twenty princes, feeling a little excited in his heart.

Once upon a time, when he was taking the teacher qualification certificate examination, he also had an internship.

But they are all teaching children.

But I didn't expect it to happen in a blink of an eye.

Now he actually wants to give lectures to the princes of the Ming Dynasty on the podium.

Many of these princes are extremely famous figures in history.

For example, King Jin, King Zhu Di of Yan, and even Emperor Yongle.

So I'm still a little nervous inside.

But after he calmed down, he said to the princes below: "My dear princes, what we are discussing here today is exactly what His Highness said.

That is a family matter, and it is also a matter of great interest to our clan.

When it comes to this salary reduction, I think all of you must be unconvinced, and you may not know how much you hate me. ”     Although Chen Han said this, there was actually one sentence in his heart that he did not say out loud.

In fact, in the twenty-eighth year of Hongwu, Lao Zhu directly reduced the prince's salary from [-] shi to [-] shi in order to pay for the army.

The prince's salary dropped sharply from six thousand dan to two thousand dan.

You will probably cry even more then.

Now it's just a slight reduction.

Of course, ten thousand dan is actually a very generous salary.

It's really hard to imagine how wealthy the princes who had a salary of fifty thousand dan at that time had to live.

Chen Han continued: "You must say in your hearts that if you, Chen Han, reform, you will reform.

Especially the tax reform, just let the landowners with the most land in the world pay taxes, and let the intellectuals pay taxes. Why should your salaries be reduced?

Is there a connection between the two? "

Chen Han smiled and said, "To be honest, there is no connection, but why should you cut your salary?

Just one thing, in order to convince scholars and officials all over the world. "

As soon as these words came out, King Jin, King Yan, King Zhou, King Chu, etc. were all a little unhappy.

King Jin even spoke directly: "Niece-in-law, since we are one family, we will not talk about two families.

I have a straight temper, so I just wanted to ask.

There must be a reason why you are directly attacking us. You cannot bleed us just for the sake of tax reform.

I think that since we are a family, we shouldn’t do such a thing. I don’t know if I want to ask this, brother, do you think it is reasonable? "

Zhu Biao understood what he wanted to say, but he did not answer for Chen Han. Instead, he said, "So now let Chen Kang come over and answer your questions. Chen Han will do the talking!"

Chen Han then said: "Actually, it's very simple. The imperial court is now going to mobilize the interests of scholars, officials and landlords on tax reform. If they don't find an excuse, they are bound to make a fuss.

The princes' salaries were many times higher than those of the officials, and they felt resentful in their hearts. "

When King Jin heard this, he immediately said, "Where does the resentment come from? Since ancient times, the emperor's son has received more than the officials. Isn't this a matter of course?

They were dissatisfied and asked their father to found the country and let them be the emperor. "

Chen Han quite liked King Jin's straightforwardness.

At least such a person will not be as deep as Yan Wang Zhu Di. I don’t know what he is thinking.

King Yan Zhu Di didn't speak much.

And looking at his expression, I knew he was waiting for an answer.

Chen Han replied: "Logically speaking, this is the truth, but the bad thing is that His Majesty is too kind to all the princes, to the point of being a bit too much.

Historical dynasties have indeed provided high salaries to vassal kings, but the disparity will not be as great as in the Ming Dynasty.

Take the first- and second-grade high-ranking officials of the imperial court. Their annual salary is less than [-]% of the salary of the princes. How can they not feel resentful in their hearts?

More importantly, the old man also decided that the clan would no longer decline after reaching the rank of Lieutenant Fengguo, and would never be separated from the common people.

In other words, no matter how many generations your descendants are, they can all get their salaries from the imperial treasury.

This was the reason for the dissatisfaction of the courtiers.

Because throughout the dynasties, we are the only one who did this in the Ming Dynasty.

The officials are naturally unbalanced, and to be honest, this completely drags down the court and puts a huge burden on the court. "

King Yan was deeply impressed when he heard this.

In fact, he also feels that if this continues, the number of children and grandchildren in future generations will increase.

If everyone could get their salary from the imperial treasury.

That would put huge pressure on the imperial treasury.

But King Jin and others did not understand, and instead said, "How much can it occupy the national treasury? Even if our family has more children, it is not as many as the people in the world.

It's not as big as the people all over the world consume. This is completely nonsense.

It is those civil servants who are jealous. "

Chen Han replied: "His Royal Highness King Jin, just because you and most of the others think so, I must explain this issue clearly to you.

Someone is coming! Bring up the Go board and chess pieces. "

A eunuch had already arrived outside carrying a Go chess piece and two boxes of black and white chess pieces.

Chen Han greeted, "All princes, come forward and let me explain to you."

King Jin, King Yan and others all gathered around. Chen Han first took the black chess pieces and placed twenty on the chessboard.

Then he pointed to the chess pieces and explained to the princes: "My princes, these twenty chess pieces are just like you, the more than twenty princes.

These are the first generation princes of my Ming Dynasty today.

This doesn't seem like much. Even if each prince received an annual salary of [-] dan, it would not be much of a burden on the imperial treasury. "

King Jin said: "Yes, it can't be considered a burden at all, so why does the court still want to reduce it?"

Chen Han said, "Your Highness, Prince Jin, don't be anxious, let's look down."

As he spoke, Chen Han placed five white chess pieces under each black chess piece.

In this way, there will be one hundred white pieces on the chessboard.

Chen Han said: "If each of the twenty princes has an average of five children, it is equivalent to a hundred county princes in the third generation.

Five sons isn’t a lot, right? After all, our Majesty has twenty-one or two sons, as well as more than a dozen princesses.

Her Royal Highness the Princess also receives a salary, although not as much as the princes, but it is still not a small amount of money.

We are not considered the princess now, only sons.

By the third generation, there were a hundred county princes. To supply these princes and clans, how much food would the court have to pay per year?

The prince's salary is [-] dan a year, and the prince's salary is [-] dan.

For twenty princes plus one hundred county princes, the court has to pay [-] million shi of food every year as a basic salary. This is still a basic salary. "

King Jin said, "Even if it's [-] million shi of grain, that's not much."

The other princes also nodded. After all, in their eyes, the imperial court was spread all over the world. Is this small amount of food still a problem?

Chen Han said again: "Indeed, by the third generation, the burden on the court is not very heavy.

Then I will continue to say, if we still calculate according to the standard of five children for each person, then by the fourth generation, Lao Zhu's clan will have [-] people.

In the fifth generation, each of the [-] people gave birth to five more, so there were [-];

In the sixth generation, each of the [-] people gave birth to five more children, making [-] children;

In the seventh generation, each of the [-] people gave birth to five more children, making the number [-];

By the eighth generation, there are [-] people, and each person will also be reborn five times, which is [-]. "

When Chen Han filled the entire chessboard with white chess pieces.

And when calculated according to this algorithm, all the princes were extremely shocked.

Chen Han raised his head and looked at them at this time, and then said, "Even if there is birth, old age, illness and death, after the eighth generation, the stock will be stable.

Even if the growth rate of the subsequent descendants is a little slower, we are optimistic that overall we can still ensure that there are [-] clan members eating the salary of the imperial court every year.

Let's not say that these [-] clan members are all at the level of princes and county kings.

As a compromise, each clan can receive two hundred shi of food per year.

These [-] clans need to consume [-] shi of imperial food every year. "

Jin Wang Yan Wang and other princes looked very heavy.

"Do you, princes, know how much the imperial court's annual food income is now?

Let me read something to you. The summer tax of the [-]th year of Hongwu was [-] shi on rice and wheat.

The autumn grain is [-] dan.

The two combined into one are [-] stones.

That is to say, starting from the eighth generation, in order to support the clans of the world, the imperial court must use all the income of the world for three years every year.

I would like to ask you princes, do you still think this is a small amount? "

……

(End of this chapter)