"Lord Mao, please take a seat."

Zhu Zhixiang sat on the main seat and raised his hand to signal Mao Ziyang to get up and take a seat.

"Thank you, Lord."

After Mao Ziyang got up and sat down, after a few polite words with Zhu Zhixiang, he went straight to the topic.

"Don't dare to deceive the feudal lord, today that thief led 50,000 or 60,000 thieves to besiege my Nanchuan City, threatening that if he didn't sacrifice 200,000 taels of silver and 10,000 stones of grain, he would slaughter my Nanchuan City!

The lord of the domain also knows that the number of officers and soldiers guarding my Nanchuan City is less than 3,000, and it is really difficult to resist the roar of the thief and the tiger! The lord of the feudal domain also knows that my Nanchuan Mansion treasury is empty, and I have not been able to pay the full amount of taxes to the court for many years, let alone make up so much money and grain!

For the sake of my 60,000 people in Nanchuan, I hope that the feudal lord can be generous at this time! ”

Hearing Mao Ziyang say this, Zhu Zhixiang frowned, and then locked tightly for a long time, unable to stretch.

After half a ring, I only heard Zhu Zhixiang say: "Lord Mao, since this domain became a vassal in the forty-fifth year of Wanli, it has been 16 years so far, but in the past 16 years, this domain has only received two years of Yulu in full, and the other four years have received a shortage, and the remaining ten years, I haven't seen a penny of grain in this domain. ”

When Mao Ziyang heard Zhu Zhixiang say this, he had to smile and nod in agreement.

"Now there is one out of thirty children under the knees of this domain, and three out of ten wives and concubines, so many families depend on this domain to feed, and there is no money in the left hand, but the right hand needs to hold up such a big family, dare to ask Lord Mao, where did you ask this clan to get you these 200,000 taels of silver and 10,000 stone of grain?"

"This,,, this ,,,"

"Everyone in the world thinks that people like me are unspeakably expensive as the kings of the dignified counties, but who can know that the living conditions of such a royal family as this clan are more than ordinary big families, and they are also inferior!"

Zhu Zhixiang's translation is also seven or eight points true.

Indeed, since the beginning of Wanli, the imperial court owes the money to the dragon sons and grandsons in various places, which is not uncommon, and he Zhu Zhixiang has not received the money for more than ten years.

There is also a county king in Jiangxi, since the attack on the lord, until his death, thirty-seven years, then I have not seen the court pay salaries, and when it is time to pay money, he received an IOU from the local government, and when he died, the IOU could already be used as a pillow.

From the fact that the vassal kings in various places could not receive the money issued by the imperial court in time, it can also be obvious that the gradual collapse of the Ming Dynasty's finances can also be clearly felt.

This is actually a matter of time or time, when Emperor Taizu Gao was in power, the dragon son and grandson were so many people, plus Emperor Gao loved his family very much, protected the calves, and wished to give them the best and most things in the world, so he set a very high price for each descendant,

Take the prince as an example, every year he will pay 50,000 stones, banknotes, 25,000 yuan, brocade, 40 horses, silk, 300 horses, yarn, Luo, 100 horses each, silk, 500 horses, winter and summer cloth, 1,000 horses each, cotton, 2,000 taels, salt, 2,000 leads, tea, 1,000 catties, and 50 horses and fodder per month.

And what about the county king? There are also a lot, every year, rice, six thousand stones, banknotes, two thousand eight hundred guan, brocade, ten horses, silk, fifty horses, Luo, twenty-five horses, silk and winter and summer cloth, one hundred horses each, cotton, five hundred taels, salt, fifty leads, tea, three hundred catties, ten horses and fodder per month.

This is just the treatment of the prince and the prince of the county, and there are descendants such as the general of the town and the general of the auxiliary country.

Of course, because during the time of Emperor Taizu Gao, there were few dragon sons and grandsons at that time, although there was such a high treatment, but this money was not a big deal for the huge Ming Empire.

But Emperor Taizu Gao ignored one point, that is, there will be more and more of his descendants, and this is more, that is still growing in geometric numbers, and now in the Chongzhen period, his dragon sons and grandsons have exceeded one million!

With so many dragon sons and grandsons, do you burden the court?

As early as the early years of Wanli, the then governor of Shandong once wrote to the Wanli Emperor, saying that with the tax revenue of Shandong Province at that time, it was no longer possible to pay the fortune of Shandong Longzi and Longsun!

That is, from that time on, the imperial court gradually gave white stripes to the dragon sons and grandsons in various places, which was also a helpless thing.

Mao Ziyang heard Zhu Zhixiang say this, considered the sentence in his heart, and then said slowly: "Domain lord, the lower officials also know that it is not easy for you to maintain the county king's mansion, but no matter what, you are still the county king after all, and there are countless fields and manors under your name, at such a critical juncture, please be more sympathetic to the suffering people!" ”

What Mao Ziyang meant by this actually means that after all, you are also a county king, a skinny camel is bigger than a horse, even if you don't have a fortune, your net worth is not comparable to ordinary people, and now when life and death are at stake, you still have to pay for this money.

"Presumptuous!"

Zhu Zhixiang was furious and slapped the table with a heavy face.

Mao Ziyang was frightened, but soon, he also regained his composure, obviously he had already expected to anger Zhu Zhixiang.

If you want to say that you are afraid, of course Mao Ziyang is a little afraid in her heart, but if you want to say that you are afraid, it will not be enough.

Don't look at Zhu Zhixiang as the king of the county, his identity is unspeakably expensive, but if he Zhu Zhixiang is in the officialdom as a county king, his power is almost equal to zero!

This is naturally also because Emperor Yongle, as a prince, created a rebellion against the court at that time, and also succeeded, so since then, the emperors of all dynasties have become more and more strict in guarding the dragon sons and grandsons in various places.

For example, in the Jiajing period, there was a county king in Henan who was hunting, and he was happy for a while, and rewarded a military officer with a jar of wine to drink.

This was originally a normal interpersonal communication, but in the emperor's eyes, this was the county king trying to win over the military officers, with ill intentions!

In the end, this county king was removed from the country by Emperor Jiajing and the title of county king was abolished!

It can be seen from this that the attitude of the emperor and the court towards the princes and princes of various places has reached what extent!

Therefore, Mao Ziyang was not very afraid of Zhu Zhixiang, and after seeing him calm down, he stood up and said to Zhu Zhixiang: "The lord of the domain, the ancients, the skin does not exist, and Mao will be attached!" That thief is ruthless, and the people who have died in his hands so far are unknown, if my Nanchuan City is not guaranteed, at that time, how can the feudal lord be spared! ”

Zhu Zhixiang didn't expect that it was Mao Ziyang who dared to speak like this, he was furious, and shouted: "There is no silver in this domain, only this life, if you want it, you can take it!" ”

After speaking, Zhu Zhixiang said to the guards outside: "Send off guests!" ”

Seeing this, Mao Ziyang had no choice but to salute Zhu Zhixiang again, and then left the county king's mansion.

Set a small goal first, such as 1 second to remember: Book Keju mobile version reading website: