In the capital, in the study of the mansion of Liu Jian, the first assistant of the cabinet.

Liu Jian was discussing something with Li Dongyang and Xie Qian.

"Li Gong, Xie Gong~"

"Presumably you have also received the relevant rumors, and now someone is advocating the matter of the vassal king going to sea, I don't know what you think?"

Liu Jian looked at Li Dongyang and Xie Qian, with a sad look on his face.

The affairs of the vassal king are not trivial, and if the affairs of the vassal king are not handled well, there will inevitably be a big incident, which is a matter related to the country.

The vassal king is the royal family of the Ming Dynasty, since ancient times, the past dynasties are the most difficult things to deal with for the royal family, on the one hand, the royal family must enjoy preferential treatment, on the other hand, it is extremely afraid of the royal family to usurp the throne and seize power.

There have been many, too many of these things since ancient times.

Not to mention anything else, in this dynasty alone, Zhu Di's classmate was originally a vassal king, but in the end he successfully turned over to the throne, which is enough to show that the matter of the vassal king, nothing is a trivial matter, and a careless accident may lay a curse in the future.

At the beginning, Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to divide the feudals, divide his sons to various places, and hand over all kinds of local powers to the vassal kings.

But in fact, on the contrary, there was a natural and irreconcilable contradiction between the emperor and the princes, especially when the princes and kings still held military power and local power.

The history of the Han and Jin dynasties is enough to illustrate this point.

However, Comrade Lao Zhu did not listen to the persuasion of his ministers, and still insisted on going his own way, as a result, Zhu Di seized the throne of Zhu Yunwen, and then deprived the power of the vassal kings in various places cleanly, and kept them in captivity like pigs.

The centralization and unification of power is a historical inevitability.

Only a unified and centralized dynasty can be stable and prosperous.

Now, with the advent of the colonial law, the voice of the vassal king going to sea also suddenly appeared, which made the first minister of the cabinet feel very worried.

Daming finally got to the current situation, but he can't ruin everything now because of any big twists and turns in the affairs of the vassal king.

"Gong Liu, I've heard about it too."

Li Dongyang nodded solemnly, he knew about this matter, and he was also worried.

"Behind this, there must be those local vassal kings who are making a noise for themselves to go to sea, and as soon as the colonial law comes out, those vassal kings may not be able to sit still."

"There is the support of the vassal king behind him, that's for sure, the key is what kind of attitude the court should have, and what kind of attitude His Majesty has, this is very important."

Liu Jian nodded and said, there is no wind and no waves, you can know with your toes, there must be the local vassal king behind this.

Don't look at the vassal kings of the Ming Dynasty who are very closely monitored, but these vassal kings are still very rich, and they can do things if they have money, and many things can be done.

"Actually, in my opinion, it's a good thing for this vassal king to go to sea."

Xie Qian pondered, thought for a while, and said.

"A good thing?"

Li Dongyang and Liu Jian said in surprise at the same time.

"Yes, this is indeed a good thing, the rumor is very right, this vassal king going to sea is absolutely harmless for our Ming Dynasty."

Xie Qian nodded solemnly and said.

"The situation of the vassal king, I think Duke Liu and Duke Xie should be very clear."

"Although the current vassal kings are relatively stable, they are also relatively honest in their fiefs in various places."

"But under the vassal system of our dynasty, the support of the royal family has become a major burden for our court."

"That is, the situation has been a little better in the past few years, a few years ago, half of the taxes of our court had to be used to supply the princes of various places."

"And with the passage of time, the scale of the royal family is also getting bigger and bigger, and the number of people is increasing, and the corresponding burden on our court will become heavier and heavier, a few years ago, half of the taxes of the imperial court can be used to supply the royal family, but in another fifty years, a hundred years, two hundred years?"

"At that time, the burden of the royal family will become heavier and heavier, and even if the court has more taxes, it will not be able to support the expanding royal family."

Xie Qian shook his head helplessly as he spoke.

In fact, everyone knows about this matter, and they all clearly see that the continuous expansion of the royal family population has brought a heavy burden to the entire country.

But no one dared to raise this matter and question, because it would inevitably anger the entire royal family of the Ming Dynasty.

Although the vassal kings of the Ming Dynasty have no real power, and there is no difference between them and the pigs that have been raised in captivity, the vassal kings are surnamed Zhu after all, and the world is still their old Zhu family after all.

These vassal kings are already like pigs, and they are being kept in captivity, what do you want?

Can't even give food and clothing to these vassal kings?

I'm afraid that these vassal kings will make a big fuss, and the emperor will have to deal with those courtiers at that time.

It's a problem that everyone knows, but no one ever wants to solve.

Even if it is the emperor, do you think Emperor Hongzhi will not know about this?

He knows it, even better than anyone else.

But he can't help it, this royal family has come to this point, this last dignity always has to be given, it can't be too much, otherwise people will say that you are mean and unkind, and even your own clan relatives are treated like this, so what do the people of the world think of you?

In Xie Qian's opinion, in the past, everyone couldn't mention this matter, but now that these vassal kings want to go to sea, this is tantamount to breaking such a situation.

It is also a good opportunity to solve the huge burden of Daming.

"But when the vassal kings go to sea, their purpose is not just to build a colony, they must establish their own country and court, what should we do when the time comes?"

Liu Jian thought about it and immediately said, there is no doubt that the purpose of the vassal king's going to sea is definitely not pure.

"Yes, if they are really allowed to go to sea, maybe in a few decades, Qin, Han, Tang, Chu, etc. may appear everywhere overseas, and once they are full-fledged, they will inevitably want to enter the Central Plains again."

Li Dongyang also said worriedly: "This case can't be opened!" ”

"Liu Gong, Li Gong~"

"Even if there is no such vassal king, once this colonial law comes out, there will be fewer ambitious people around the world in the future?"

"Besides, they are all overseas places, far away from my Daming, how much influence can it have on my Daming?"

Xie Qian said with an indifferent face.

"I don't know if Duke Liu and Duke Li know how much land the vassal kings of my Ming Dynasty have occupied?"

"A lot~"

Hearing Xie Qian's words, Liu Jian thought for a while and said.

"It's not just a lot, it's just something that has endangered the foundation of the Ming Dynasty."

"Duke Liu, just in your hometown of Henan, the land occupied by the big and small vassal kings has reached about thirty percent of the land in Henan, and thirty percent of the land."

"Coupled with the gentry and landlords, how much land can Henan give to the people?"

"Henan's cultivated land is one of the best among my Ming provinces, but every time there is a famine, how many people in Henan flee the famine?"

"Every time I am hungry, the imagination of eating is not uncommon?"

"All this is inseparable from the continuous encroachment of local fields by the large and small vassal kings of Henan?"

Xie Qian's voice was amplified a lot.

Vassal kings, not only do they need a lot of supplies from the imperial court, but at the same time, do you think these vassal kings are really honest in the local area?

The families of the vassal kings are getting bigger and bigger, and the little land and the like at the beginning are not enough at all, so what should I do?

Of course, they were constantly trying to encroach on more land and annex land, which almost became the daily work of the vassal kings.

Anyway, these vassal kings have no pursuit, nothing more than to have more children and occupy more land.

For this behavior of the vassal kings, the ministers of the court are also in their eyes and anxious in their hearts, and some ministers are constantly writing notes to it, but Emperor Hongzhi also turns a blind eye to this matter.

Even sometimes, when these feudal kings cried poor, Emperor Hongzhi would reward the feudal kings with some land, local taxes, salt and the like.

The vassal kings were just encroaching on some land, which was nothing at all in the eyes of Emperor Hongji.

But there are more and more vassal kings in the world?

The land they have encroached upon is beyond imagination.

Hearing Xie Qian's words, Liu Jian and Li Dongyang were silent.

This is a fact, although the vassal king is a pig raised in captivity, this is also a pig of the old Zhu family.

Although they have no ambitions, at the local level, they are constantly encroaching on the fields and local taxes, and at the same time, they are doing misdeeds in the local area.

Although the local officials had the right to supervise, they did not have any power to examine and arrest these vassal kings, and only the emperor could dispose of them.

As for the emperor, as long as it is not a big deal, he will turn a blind eye, and he is not robbing himself of the country, he is just occupying some land in the local area and bullying men and women, will there be fewer such people in that place?

Even if there are no such royal relatives, there will be other people who do these things locally.

This also leads to the fact that these local vassal kings are often unscrupulous, and the annexation of land is even more intensified, not only in Henan, as long as there is a vassal king, the surrounding land will slowly become the land of the vassal king.

"Gong Xie, maybe you are right, the problem of the vassal king has indeed reached a problem that must be solved."

After a long time, Liu Jian nodded slowly.

The problem of the vassal king has really reached the time to endanger the Ming Dynasty.

If this problem is not solved, sooner or later the Ming Dynasty will be eaten by the increasingly large vassal kings.

"Let the vassal kings stay in Daming, it will definitely endanger the foundation of our Daming in the future, and get them to overseas places far away from our Daming, no matter how they toss, it doesn't matter what happens to our Daming."

Xie Qian said with a smile.

He supported the vassal king's expedition to the sea, not only for the sake of the Ming court, but also for himself, for the sake of the booming overseas trade and overseas colonies.

If Emperor Hongzhi and the imperial court could allow and encourage the vassal kings to go to sea, wouldn't it be more stable for ordinary people to come?

The large-scale going to sea by the vassal king, in Xie Qian's view, is a good thing for the Ming court, the Ming Dynasty, the Ming people, the Ming Dynasty, and the Ming vassal king.

The imperial court can lighten the burden, and from then on slowly get rid of an increasingly heavy revenge, and the financial support of the imperial court every year alone is very considerable.

For the Ming Dynasty, the vassal king's going to sea can promote the development of overseas colonization, and the colonies laid down by the vassal king overseas also belong to the Ming Dynasty in the final analysis, and they can also collect a lot of taxes every year.

For the common people of the Ming Dynasty, when the vassal kings go to sea, their land can be returned to the hands of the common people, and the fiefdoms of the various vassal kings are here, and everyone has one less vampire, and life is naturally much easier.

For the Son of Heaven of the Ming Dynasty, it is actually a good thing for the vassal king to go to sea, reducing the burden, making the country easier, and the Son of Heaven more relaxed.

As for whether there will be some powerful vassal kings who will rebel against the Central Plains in the future, then there is no need to worry too much.

They are all overseas places, far away from the Ming Dynasty, in such a place, they don't know how long it will take them to gain a firm foothold, and the Ming Dynasty itself is based here, how can they be afraid of them?

This is also a good thing for the vassal king.

There are vassal kings who are willing to be pigs, but most of the vassal kings are actually unwilling and helpless.

The ancestral legal system is here, and they can't be pigs if they don't want to.

If the imperial court and the Son of Heaven can allow them to go to sea, this is simply great news for the vassal kings, they no longer have to be confined to small fiefdoms, and many vassal kings themselves are actually very talented people, and they can also go overseas to display their talents.

The most important thing is freedom, which is what the vassal kings crave the most.

In short, no matter what aspect it is, it is a good thing for the vassal king to go to sea, and it is a good thing for all aspects of the Ming Dynasty.

When the vassal kings go to sea, the huge wealth accumulated by the vassal kings must be used.

Whether it is to buy a ship, to recruit troops or horses, it is necessary to spend silver, and this silver can be spent to promote the development of the Ming shipbuilding industry, weapons manufacturing industry, navigation industry and many other aspects.

When the vassal king goes overseas, he will definitely not go alone, he will inevitably take a large number of people overseas, and he will be able to drive more people to migrate overseas from the Ming Dynasty to open up more colonies and living space.

"But, but, can Your Majesty agree to let them out?"

Li Dongyang thought for a while and asked.

They feel that it is useless to have a lot of benefits, the key is to make Emperor Hongzhi feel good, and it is useful to agree with them to go out, if Emperor Hongzhi does not agree, even if it is good, it is useless.

It is a good thing for all aspects of the Ming Dynasty, but for Emperor Hongzhi, the biggest uncertainty is whether these vassal kings who go overseas will turn against the Ming Dynasty in the future?

Will these vassal kings come to rob their children and grandchildren after they become strong?

PS: Thank you for the blessings of the book friends, thank you all ~ Tomorrow my wife will resume normal updates after being discharged from the hospital~