Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

In the Qianqing Palace, Zhu Youjian listened to Zhang Pu's report and was quite satisfied with Han Wang Zhu Danshen's knowledge.

To be honest, he did not want to arbitrarily abolish the prince and let the royal family fight for the throne. He did not want to use this method unless it was absolutely necessary.

Because after this method is implemented, the princes who emerge from the fighting will be extremely powerful, and perhaps wise rulers will be born for several generations in a row, leading to the emergence of powerful vassal states.

Moreover, this method of selecting princes is a great destruction to the inheritance system and is quite detrimental to future stability.

What he preferred was to confer titles on members of the royal family who had made contributions in the establishment of the vassal state, allowing them to develop their own territories independently.

If possible, he hoped that all the vassal kings would be as sensible as the King of Han and take the initiative to apply for relocation.

Therefore, he was not dissatisfied with the various requests made by the King of Han, but instead thought carefully about whether he could agree to them:
"King Han wants to keep his residence in Pingliang Prefecture. This can be agreed."

"In addition, I also allow King Han to send people to Pingliang Prefecture to worship their ancestors when he comes to the court. Han Fan can also leave a clan to be responsible for maintaining the palace and mausoleum."

"But the Han clan can only retain a maximum of 1,000 acres of land. All the remaining land and houses will be handed over to the local authorities."

The purpose of relocating the royal family was to free up their land. Zhu Youjian attached the most importance to this point and did not care much about other things.

In order to encourage them to vacate the land, Zhu Youjian even ordered:

"All the royal family's lands were sold overseas in exchange for acres."

"It means that if you donate 100 mu of land in the mainland, you can get 100 hectares overseas."

"If the overseas land exceeds 375 hectares, you can apply for the title of hereditary knight and convert the land into hereditary territory."

Three hundred and seventy-five hectares is thirty-seven thousand five hundred mu. If we calculate that one li is three hundred and seventy-five mu, it is exactly one hundred square li.

One hundred square miles is equal to ten square miles, which is the minimum standard that Zhu Youjian set for the fiefdoms of overseas lords.

If any member of the royal family owned more land than this area, Zhu Youjian would allow them to become hereditary knights.

As for those who cannot achieve it, let them continue to hold the royal title, or become ordinary people -

Later, he planned to change the ancestral precept that the rank of Fengguo Lieutenant would not be demoted, or to change Fengguo Lieutenant to a nominal title without clan salary, allowing people to choose their own careers.

Therefore, if the existing Fengguo lieutenant cannot be transformed into a hereditary knight, he will only be an ordinary person in the future, but will have the status of a royal family member.

Zhang Pu, who was listening, realized that the emperor was planning to solve the problem of royal family members once and for all and no longer let them become a burden to the court.

Thinking of King Han's second request, Zhang Pu said:

"In addition to wanting to keep his residence in Pingliang, the King of Han also wants to have a residence in the capital."

"Should we reject his offer and stop him from thinking about it?"

This was what King Han came up with because Duke Jiangling and Earl Ningyuan both had residences in the capital, and he also wanted to have a residence in the capital to get closer to the emperor.

When Zhu Youjian heard this request, he frowned. Then he relaxed his brows and said:

"If he wants a mansion, let him build it himself."

"I will give all the princes who go to sea a piece of land so that they can build their own residences."

Taking out the map of the capital, Zhu Youjian pointed to the lake not far from Tsinghua Garden and Yuquan Mountain at the foot of the Western Hills and said:

"This area will be used as the residence of the royal family from now on."

"The area of ​​a prince's mansion cannot exceed one hundred acres, and the area of ​​a county prince's mansion cannot exceed twenty acres. Let them buy the land with their own money and choose a place to build a mansion."

"My Tsinghua Garden is right there. I will summon them there later."

This place is probably where the Old Summer Palace and the Summer Palace of the Qing Dynasty were located. In Zhu Youjian's impression, it is very suitable for building a garden.

Those princes wanted to have a mansion in the capital, but there was no place inside the city. So let them build it outside the city at their own expense.

With the existence of a mansion in the capital, the resistance of the princes to move to other provinces will be reduced, and more people will be willing to go overseas.

After all, if they feel uncomfortable staying overseas, they can apply to live in Beijing in the name of pilgrimage.

Compared to staying in local cities, some people would feel more comfortable traveling back and forth between the capital and their fiefdoms.

In order to make the mansion in the capital more attractive, Zhu Youjian wrote a handwritten note and ordered Zhang Wenyu, the Minister of Works, to conduct an investigation and make relevant plans.

According to the current 30 princes and more than 300 county princes in the Ming Dynasty, it would take 9,000 acres of land to build their mansions in the capital. In the future, there may be more princes and county princes, and the mansions of the nobles will also be arranged there.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian asked Zhang Wenyu to plan 30,000 acres of land with Tsinghua Garden as the center, and asked him to plan this area well in order to attract the kings and maintain the relationship between the royal family and the kings.

Zhang Pu was listening, secretly surprised. According to the area of ​​more than 90,000 mu in the capital, the emperor asked Zhang Wenyu to plan 30,000 mu, which was almost equivalent to building one-third of the capital. How could he not be shocked?

Thinking of the risks involved, Zhang Pu couldn't help but dissuade him:

"Your Majesty, the area of ​​these mansions is too large. They should be restricted to a smaller size."

"Moreover, the kings live together outside the city. If something unexpected happens to them, I am afraid that the whole world will be shaken."

When Zhu Youjian heard this, he immediately remembered something, which was the Jisi Change that happened the next year in history. If the Jianlu broke through the pass and reached the city of Beijing again, then the princes' palaces outside Beijing would obviously be defeated.

The safety issue outside the city is something that cannot be ignored at this time.

So after thinking about it, he said:
"Let Zhang Wenyu plan it carefully. He can build a city wall or a few safe fortresses."

"Also, the capital is going to build many colleges and universities, and there is no room in the city. I plan to put them there."

"In the future, this area will be both a palace for the kings and a university town."

“Nobles and talented people will all gather there!”

This was also a decision made based on the planning of later generations, because in Zhu Youjian's memory, there were mainly gardens and schools there.

Now when he plans, he also arranges it there.

After hearing this, Zhang Pu was very excited because he felt that the emperor really took his advice to heart.

He had previously said that scholars had no future, so the emperor established universities to allow those scholars to continue their studies.

But after further study, they still need to be arranged. The emperor did not say where they will be arranged. But by building the university hall and the princes' palaces together, those students will have the opportunity to be appreciated by the nobles.

Scholars who are not uncommon in the Central Plains can be considered talents if they go abroad.

Once these scholars are appreciated by nobles, they will have the opportunity to display their talents.

So Zhang Pu praised this order at this time and believed that the University Hall and the princes' palaces should indeed be built together.

As for how to build these two places, of course, the kings would pay for it. Zhu Youjian asked Zhang Pu to carefully publicize the policy of donating to build schools to the kings and encourage them to pay.

Then, Zhang Pu conveyed the third request of King Han Zhu Danshen:

Power and taxation issues.

Zhu Youjian had not yet thought about these, so he said to Zhang Pu:

"Opening overseas vassal states is a new thing, it has never happened before." "So what I mean is to let the Han Wang vassal state, Jiangling Duchy, and Ningyuan Earl State explore and give them ten years to open up."

"During this period, they can act freely within the territory and do not have to pay any taxes. As long as they can support themselves, that's enough."

"After the ten-year period is up, the court will summarize its experience and decide on the next strategy."

The development of the three feudal states has already occupied all the easily occupied territories in the surrounding areas.

There was no one living further north, and it was estimated that not many nobles would be willing to go there. At the time when the enfeoffment had just begun, Zhu Youjian was unwilling to enfeoff these places, and was criticized for being harsh.

The Ming Dynasty has not yet mastered the route east to America, so it needs to send people to explore and set up supply stations along the way.

Going south, they might face off against the Portuguese and the Dutch. As the Ming navy had just been established and it was unable to control the sea, Zhu Youjian only planned to let pirates such as Zheng Zhilong test the waters.

Therefore, within ten years, the Ming Dynasty will not have many overseas vassal states, and there will be enough time to sum up experience.

It will take some time before large-scale distribution can be implemented.

After hearing the emperor's decision, Zhang Pu was a little worried and said:

"Your Majesty, the vassal states are acting on their own and I am afraid I will lose control."

"Moreover, the territory allocated to Han Fan is too large, and I am afraid that it will be difficult to get rid of it."

Zhu Youjian laughed loudly upon hearing this and said:
"The area of ​​Han Fan looks large, but there is actually not much that can be used."

"I am worried that King Han will express dissatisfaction when he returns from his trip!"

"To be honest, the value of his 700,000 square miles of land may not be comparable to the 90,000 square miles of Ningyuan Earldom."

"The most valuable thing about the Han Clan is the 300,000 square miles of land on the North Sea Island."

"When the King of Han and the Princes of the Counties divide their territories in the future, I will have to send people to keep an eye on them, to prevent those Princes of the Counties who were granted lands on the mainland from being dissatisfied and causing trouble in the future."

Among the lands of Outer Manchuria, Zhu Youjian's impression was that the most valuable was Vladivostok, which is now the Golden Horn Guard of the Ningyuan Earldom.

The second most valuable is the Temple Street of Jiangling Principality. This place is mainly strategically important. When it is navigable in summer, it can go deep into the hinterland of Northeast China along the Heilongjiang River.

The area east of the Asu River in the middle is almost entirely mountainous and forested. That is why Zhu Youjian was so generous in granting it to the King of Han, making up a total of one million square miles of land.

Zhang Pu didn't understand at first, but after hearing the emperor's explanation, he realized that such a large piece of land was mostly forest that was difficult to cultivate and had no value at all. It was even difficult to find a port.

The Sanjiang Plain, where the Asu River, Songhua River and Heilong River meet on the west side of the mountains and forests, is more worthy of reclamation. There are now wetlands and swamps everywhere here, but Zhu Youjian is sure that it can be reclaimed into arable land. In the future, it will be used as a well field to distribute meritorious soldiers.

(Yellow is cultivated land, green is mountain forest, and light green is grassland)
In order to prevent the King of Han from feeling deceived, Zhu Youjian thought for a moment and pointed to the Kuril Islands and Kamchatka Peninsula northeast of Beihai Island and said:

"You can tell King Han about the situation in the mountains and forests on land."

"If the King of Han doesn't want it, he can choose this island and peninsula."

“Although it’s a bit colder, the islands lead to America, so it’s a strategic location.”

The Kamchatka Peninsula is also very large in area. It was called Liugui Kingdom in the Tang Dynasty and was once connected with the Central Plains.

Zhang Pu looked at this place far away from the Central Plains and felt that it would be better to grant it to the King of Han, so that the King of Han would be further away from the Central Plains and would have no chance to rebel.

But he himself felt that the King of Han would not be interested in this larger land.

Because the main reason why the King of Han accepted the fiefdom was because he had his eyes on the 700,000 square miles of land on the mainland. Even though the emperor thought this piece of land was worthless——

In fact, most of the land around the Central Plains is of little value. Apart from the Central Plains, most of the areas around the Ming Dynasty can be called bad land. China's traditional territory ends here.

Under current conditions, the cost of Ming Dynasty ruling these places for a long time is too high, and it is likely that it will not last long. The Nurgan Regional Military Commission was abandoned for this reason.

This is also the reason why Zhu Youjian considered dividing this place up.

The civil officials of the Ming Dynasty did not care about these rotten places, but the feudal lords did care a lot. They could use them to rule these regions.

As for the loss of control mentioned by Zhang Pu, Zhu Youjian also considered it. However, we cannot allow these places to be occupied by the Russians just because they may lose control. The Russians have now occupied the area around the Yenisei River. If left alone, they will soon reach Lake Baikal, the northern sea where Su Wu grazed sheep, and even continue eastward, triggering the Battle of Yaksa.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian decided to divide the northern regions and let the princes of the Ming Dynasty develop these territories.

(Russian expansion in Siberia)

In order to better integrate the power of the princes and to ensure long-term stability in the border areas, Zhu Youjian thought about it and decided to establish a higher-level government office. He said:

"Most of these places used to belong to the Nurgan Military Region, and were also the locations of the Andong Protectorate and the Bohai and Heishui Military Governorates during the Tang Dynasty."

"In the future, we will establish the Andong Military Commission and the Andong Military Office to manage the military and political affairs of this area."

"The Dusi and Hujunfu can be collectively called the Duhufu. The government office will not be set up for the time being. The minister stationed in the court, Hong Chengchou, will concurrently serve as the governor of Andong."

"Hong Chengchou is in Korea. Let him support the development of these vassal states."

After roughly planning the structure, Zhu Youjian also ordered Yang Jingchen, the Minister of Personnel, to select officials to support the vassal states. Among the left and right chiefs of each vassal state, one must be an official sent by the court. Officials sent by the court must also account for more than half of the subordinate low-level positions.

In order to have enough officials to serve in the vassal states, Zhu Youjian ordered the recruitment of candidates to serve as officials. According to the previously established policy, those who have served overseas for more than six years can be transferred back to the mainland.

According to Zhu Youjian's idea, there shouldn't be many candidates. After all, the princes of various vassal states could offer better conditions. A hereditary knighthood could make the candidate's family rich for generations.

However, he underestimated the appeal of Ming official positions and overestimated the appeal of overseas lands. Even if it was hereditary land, most of the candidates looked down on it. They scrambled to become officials sent by the court to the vassal states so that they could come back later.

Many people disdained the attempts of Han Wang Zhu Danshen, Jiangling Duke Zhang Tongchang, and Ningyuan Earl Li Zunzu to win over the emperor, and simply ignored them.

This made Zhu Youjian both pleased with the appeal of an official position at the imperial court, and yet he secretly shook his head, feeling that he should set up a few examples to encourage the people of the Ming Dynasty to look outward.

It takes time to select the juren, but the list of officials was quickly submitted to the Ministry of Personnel.

Zhu Youjian saw a familiar name and asked Yang Jingchen:
"What happened to Chen Xinjia?"

"Why was he recommended?"

Yang Jingchen immediately replied:
"Chen Xinjia is the prefect of Dingzhou in Zhili. Although he is a juren, he has quite some talent."

"I was originally planning to be promoted to Yuanwailang, but now the Thirteen Departments of the Ministry of Revenue and the Thirteen Departments of the Ministry of Justice have been restructured, and there are many fewer official positions."

"So the Ministry of Literature decided to send him to Ningyuan as the chief historian."

The position of Chief Secretary is of the fifth rank, and Chen Xinjia is indeed qualified for the position with his experience as a fifth rank prefect.

However, Zhu Youjian did not have a good impression of him and knew that this person could not keep secrets. If he was sent to the rear of the Jianlu, there was a possibility that secrets would be leaked.

So after thinking about it, Zhu Youjian did not reject the list, but just changed it and said:

"Since Chen Xinjia is talented, let him go to Han Fan as the chief historian and help the King of Han to establish a vassal state."

"Now is the development period, and the opinions of the princes are the main consideration. If they are not satisfied with the officials sent by the court, they can apply for replacement."

"Officials who are willing to go overseas will all be promoted one level, starting from the ninth rank, and the probation period will be calculated as three years."

Use policies to reduce friction and encourage officials to go overseas. (End of this chapter)