86_86695 The clan of the Ming Dynasty had a clear system in the division of titles. There are eight levels of clan titles in the Ming Dynasty, namely prince, county king, general of Zhenguo, general of auxiliary state, general of Fengguo, lieutenant of Zhenguo, lieutenant of auxiliary state, and lieutenant of Fengguo.

The emperor's son is granted the title of prince. The eldest son of the prince is a hereditary prince, and the rest of the sons are all crowned county kings.

The eldest son of the county king is the hereditary county king, and the rest of the sons are all named generals of the town state.

The eldest son of the Zhenguo general is the hereditary Zhenguo general, and the rest of the sons are all auxiliary generals.

The eldest son of the auxiliary general is the hereditary auxiliary general, and the rest of the sons are all named the general of the country.

The eldest son of General Fengguo is hereditary General Fengguo, and the rest of the sons are all lieutenants of Zhenguo.

The eldest son of the lieutenant of Zhenguo is hereditary lieutenant of Zhenguo, and the rest of the sons are all lieutenants of auxiliary countries.

The son of the auxiliary lieutenant, the hereditary lieutenant of the whole Fengguo. The title of lieutenant of Fengguo remains unchanged and is hereditary.

It has been more than 250 years since the establishment of the Ming Dynasty. The number of clans has multiplied, and the number has reached an incredible number of more than 200,000 people. Among these 200,000 people, in addition to a small number of princes, there are a large number of generals and lieutenants, who also want the imperial court to supply grain and rice. The huge number of people and the huge consumption of money and food have made these imperial relatives one of the burdens of the state's financial expenditure.

Tang Wenguang, 56, is the county magistrate of Zhijiang County. In the twentieth year of Wanli, the thirty-year-old Tang Wenguang won the top three jinshi. Tang Wenguang, who was born in a solid farming family, had no backers, and second, he did not have a family fortune, and was arranged to be a county magistrate in Guangxi for more than ten years. Two years ago, Tang Wenguang felt that as he got older and older, his health became worse and worse, and he was afraid that he would die in the remote **** place of Guangxi, so he gave the assets he had looted for more than ten years to a man who was an official in Nanjing in the same year, and only this year he was transferred to Zhijiang County, a county commander who was lacking in the United States.

Tang Zhixian is a native of Shaoxing, gentle and elegant, and at the same time, he has the caution of the people of the southern water towns. When Menzi sent in the post of the Zhijiang Wangshuren, he was very surprised for a while, because he had never heard of the royal family here in Zhijiang County. He put down the post and instructed his subordinates to quickly call back his fellow villager, who is also from Shaoxing, and his teacher Zhang Shouyi, who has been with him for more than ten years, from the teahouse on the street.

The reason why Tang Wenguang was surprised by the Zhijiang Wangshu people on the post was not that he had any special respect for the Ming Dynasty clan. There are more clans in the world, and all of them have official status, and the worst is a lieutenant of Fengguo. However, in the Ming Dynasty, which was a civil dictatorship, county officials who were born in Jinshi could completely ignore the bloodline of the clan nobles. Not to mention clans like generals and lieutenants, even the vassal kings, in the face of the personal servants of the governors, have to bow and give gifts respectfully.

Now is not the time for the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, after the Jingtai and Chenghua dynasties, the rights of the vassal clans have been exploited. Under the suppression and control of the civilian regime for two hundred years, the feudal lords and nobles raised were all guys with distorted personalities, and they all groveled when facing powerful figures, and they had no backbone at all.

However, Zhu Youzi's identity is more entangled. He is not an ordinary nobleman of the clan, but a descendant who should inherit the title of the county king. Although the imperial court's attitude towards the feudal king was to fend for himself, as long as the feudal king had direct descendants, under normal circumstances, even if his grandfather and father were deprived of their titles, their sons and grandsons would be appointed by the imperial court to inherit the titles.

In history, Zhu Youzi's father had only one son who was Zhu Youzi, and Zhu Youzi died of illness this year, so the title of King Zhijiang had no inheritance because of the loss of children and grandchildren. But now it seems that Zhu Youzi, who is alive and well, is entirely likely to inherit the title of King Zhijiang. Who knows if the Son of Wanli will have a convulsion one day, remembering the matter of King Zhijiang, he will easily restore the throne of King Zhijiang of Zhu Youzi.

The Zhijiang Prefecture Ordinance can ignore ordinary clan nobles, but it must also be cautious when facing the vassal king. Tang Wenguang is just a small county magistrate, a turbidity current official from a third-class jinshi, and he has no backing. He is not a governor, a high-ranking official of the ministry, nor is he the kind of Qingliushi who controls public opinion, after all, he cannot ignore the authority of a county king. So in the face of this Zhijiang Wangshu, who is likely to become a county king, what attitude should be used. He needs to discuss it with his master.

Zhang Shouyi soon returned to the county office, and before Tang Wenguang could speak, he said to Tang Zhixian, "Dong Weng, is the prince of Zhijiang coming to the yamen?" Zhang Shouyi came in through the back door and didn't see the carriage parked at the entrance of the county government.

"Mr. Zhang is finally back, look at this post, I don't know anything about this Zhijiang Wang family, Mr. help me with the staff officer." Tang Wenguang asked Zhang Shouyi to sit down and handed Zhang Shouyi the post sent by Menzi.

Zhang Shouyi looked at the post carefully, and the post was made of modern coated paper. The crimson edge is printed with two lines of black No. 1 Song characters, which are the title of the prince of Zhijiang and the name of Zhu Youzi. Although Zhang Shouyi didn't recognize the material of the post, he also felt that this was a very high-end and high-grade thing.

He pondered for a while, and then said to Tang Wenguang, "Dong Weng, this Zhu Youzi is the grandson of the previous generation of Zhijiang Wang. According to the news of this county, Zhu Zhizhang, the king of Zhijiang in the previous generation, collided with Xu Huating (Xu Jie), the first assistant of the Jiajing Dynasty, and was dismissed. Originally, when Mu Miao was just in power, he wanted to restore the throne of Zhu Xianxian, the son of King Zhijiang, that is, Zhu Youzi's father. However, at that time, the first assistant, Xu Huating's disciple Zhang Jiangling (Zhang Juzheng) came forward to obstruct it, and Mu Miao was a gentle character, so it was over.

Zhu Xianxian made a lot of trouble during his lifetime, and everyone in Huguang was afraid of Zhang Jiangling's authority and ignored it, and the household yamen didn't even dare to send Lu rice to his family, which made his family very embarrassed. In Zhu Youzi's generation, because of his poor life, he rarely came to the city, and he basically had no contact with the government. However, I heard that a few days ago, Zhu Youzi's housekeeper recruited all the homeless people outside the city to be housekeepers. This is likely to be due to the news above, and Zhu Youzi is expected to inherit the prince, so he made a move. Dong Weng received Zhu Youzi, and it was better to be cautious. ”

Tang Wenguang heard this, nodded thoughtfully, and said to Zhang Shouyi, "The old man's analysis is very reasonable. But if it weren't for this reason, the imperial court would not have sealed Zhu Youzi's will in the future. If I respect him, I'm afraid it will not be conducive to Shilin's reputation in the future. ”

When Zhang Shouyi heard this, he secretly pouted in his heart. You Tang Wenguang is an old man in his fifties and sixties, but he is just a third-class jinshi, and he has been a dirty petty official all his life, and he still cares about Shilin's comments. However, he did not forget his identity as a master, and said to Tang Wenguang very considerately, "Dong Weng doesn't have to worry, even if he treats him politely, it is just Dong Weng's respect for the royal family." No one will say anything if it gets out. ”

Tang Wenguang also knew what the master thought of himself. He himself knows his situation. It is about to survive in the position of the magistrate, and the best situation is only to be a five-rank official. He didn't want to offend a future vassal king and add trouble to himself. Thinking of this, he said to his master, "Call all the officials of this county, open the middle door and line up to greet him." ”

The master saw Tang Wenguang's head turn around, nodded, and went out to order.

Zhu Youzi sat in the spacious and bright four-wheeled carriage, very satisfied, except that the horse pulling the carriage was not very powerful, and his frame was still quite majestic. When entering the gate of the county seat, the soldiers guarding the gate were stunned by the carriage, and as soon as they came up to interrogate, they were beaten away by the family members with a few sticks. All the way in, the people of Manxian County were all frightened and retreated.

Eating all kinds of pastries that Wang Shuhui bought back from modern times, Zhu Youzi, who had grown more than a dozen catties of meat and ruddy complexion in the past few days, was very satisfied with his good son-in-law. After waiting for a quarter of an hour, Zhu Youzi was not very impatient, and all kinds of pastries and biscuits were eating happily. I saw that the main gate of the Zhijiang County Ya was wide open, the county order was the head, and the county officials, the main bookkeeper, the teaching and other officials followed closely behind, and they walked out quickly and neatly dressed.

Tang Wenguang said in a clear voice, "Zhijiang County welcomes the prince!" ”。 After that, the officials with the rank of the county minister, the chief bookkeeper, and the priest bowed and saluted. Except for him and a few assistants, the officials and miscellaneous servants behind him fell to their knees.

Accompanying Zhu Youzi and also sitting in the carriage was Liu Huaiyi, the eldest brother who served as Zhu Youzi's housekeeper. Liu Huaiyi has been on an errand since he was a child next to his grandfather, the second housekeeper of the original Zhijiang Palace, and he has seen the situation in the original Zhijiang Palace. Although he was later forced to leave Zhu Youzi's house and fished for more than ten years, he also knew how to deal with officials. When he saw the formation of the Zhijiang County Ya, he immediately knocked on the carriage. Hearing the sound, one of the three drivers who was in charge of catching the car, sitting in the front seat of the car, immediately took out a ladder, put it at the door of the car, and opened the door.

Zhu Youzi got out of the car and saw that except for a few county officials outside, they were bowing and saluting, and the others were kneeling down. I couldn't help but think of the majesty of the palace when I was a child, and I was a little excited. With a trill, he said, "You don't have to be polite, please get up quickly." Then he got out of the carriage with the help of the coachman.

After listening to Zhu Youzi's instructions, Tang Wenguang raised his head and carefully observed Zhu Youzi. Zhu Youzi was wearing a red robe, and the dragon pattern on his chest and shoulders that was originally the costume of the county king was replaced by a light red circular pattern. The one on his head was not wearing the normal Wing Shan Crown, but a black black gauze hat with two wings behind the Wing Shan Crown.

Tang Wenguang nodded slightly in his heart after reading it. This Zhijiang Wangshu is still very well-behaved. If Zhu Youzi really wears it according to the crown of the county king, he will really have a lot of trouble. If he were to face that kind of situation, would he want to impeach Zhu Youzi in this book? If he is impeached, if the imperial court has the will to be knighted in the future, he will offend the local vassal king. If the imperial court does not have the will of knighthood in the future, his own impeachment will become a matter of nowhere.

If you don't impeach, you will be left with words, and you are likely to be charged with conniving at the vassal royal clan by your political opponents. Anyway, this Zhu Youzi is a clan, even if the court thinks that he has exceeded the system, the biggest responsibility is only to be sent to Fengyang for confinement, and there is no loss to Zhu Youzi. On the contrary, Tang Wenguang himself, if he is regarded by his boss as a person who has nothing to do or is accused of conniving at the clan of the vassal king, he is likely to face the fate of early retirement. Zhu Youzi was dressed strictly, which saved Tang Wenguang a lot of trouble.

In the blink of an eye, Tang Wenguang thought about so many things in his head, if Wang Shuhui knew, I am afraid he would also admire the flexibility of the ancient officials' brains.

After Tang Wenguang thought about this, he led Zhu Youzi to the county office, and while saying something polite to Zhu Youzi that he had never seen for a long time, he secretly observed Zhu Youzi's face. Zhu Youzi has been under modern nutrition medicine and rich food in the past few days, and his original yellow and thin appearance has disappeared. The long horse face inherited from the ancestors has been improved by the excellent genes of several generations of feudal princesses, and it has become a somewhat long face, but this face is delicate and upright, with a bit of ruddy color. He was tall and well-proportioned, and his hard life made him walk vigorously.

Looking at Zhu Youzi with this appearance, Tang Wenguang secretly pondered in his heart, it seems that the rumors are not credible, and the life of this Zhijiang Wangshu is not necessarily how difficult