Nadongtou Town was originally a prosperous town above the important town outside Wei County, and there were many businessmen and merchants. Especially in the rich world, such places are even more unusual. And this banquet is set up by a chef in the palace, and the craftsmanship is naturally not said. In terms of ingredients, exhaust all kinds of water and land meat and vegetables, rare birds and beasts, cooking, frying and roasting, fragrant. And the utensils are gold, silver and jasper, full of colors. Rao is Yan Hong has seen a big scene, and he can't help but secretly admire the strong financial resources of the acting king. I secretly said in my heart, Long Live Lord asked me to check how the life of this sect is, I don't need to check, the acting prince is very nourishing, and he is not worried about relief. But since Long Live has something to say, even if it is the icing on the cake, it can't make the acting prince lose any benefits.

So Yan Hong was open and interested, and he ate and drank with the acting king and Ge Jin. This banquet is sumptuous, the people are also refreshing, everyone drinks to the glass, and talks and laughs, but in the army, there is no mention of it. It can be seen that Ge Jin is a man, and the acting king Zhu Tingqi is a vassal king, according to the rules, he divides the feud but does not give land, the lords do not come to the people, and the food is not governed. In other words, they are supported by money, and they can't interfere in local affairs, let alone the affairs of the army? Therefore, a few people only talk about Fengyue, and naturally the more they talk, the more they enter Hong Kong.

It's just that Yan Hong occasionally peeks down with his eyes, but finds that there are many clans below, guarding the wine banquet and gobbling it up, as if a hungry ghost is reincarnated, and he refuses to let go of even the bones. He couldn't help laughing and said, how can these gentlemen surnamed Zhu be the descendants of their grandfather after all.

When the wine is drunk, it is the old men and highnesses who are sitting on it, and the big guys also abandon the grandeur of officialdom and magnates and begin to seek pleasure arbitrarily. Those few fans who accompany the wine. It's all scratching their heads. Entanglement will come up. also used all his means, wanting Qin Cha to bring himself with him. Even if you only stay with you for one night, your value on the ground in Shanxi can be increased several times.

Yan Hong was originally interested in this Datong girl, who is known as one of the three famous disciplines in the world, but there was still a pink army in the backyard, so he really didn't dare to provoke it. Seeing several beauties approaching with incense all over their bodies, they were anxious and shouted: "Your Highness, the lower officials change their clothes!" "Push the powder away. Get up and run away.

As soon as he said to change his clothes, a person stood up and said, "I'll lead the Qin to send forward." ”

When Yan Hong saw this person, he was in his early twenties, wearing a gown, with a silver ribbon around his waist, and he looked like a lieutenant in Fengguo. You must know that Ding Xingwang, a member of the line of the king of Shanxi, is not known how many people are at the level of auxiliary generals, and as for the low-end clans such as Lieutenant Fengguo, where can they recognize it.

Yan Hong just thanked him in his mouth. Follow the man out of the hall and turn through two moon gates. The lieutenant Fengguo, who was walking in front, suddenly turned around and said, "Yan Xiqing, please save me for the sake of the ancestors and ancestors of the Ming Dynasty!" As he spoke, he lifted up his robe and fell to his knees.

This time, Yan Hong's hands were in a hurry, no matter how bold he was, he didn't dare to let Lieutenant Fengguo kneel for him. No matter how bad it is, people are also clansmen, and they are also courtiers, how can they worship in reverse? He hurriedly took the first step, put his hands in his hands and said, "Chitose can't!" The minister didn't dare to be. It's just that I don't know yet, what do you call a Chitose? ”

Seeing Yan Hong's sincere attitude, the man relaxed a little in his heart, and said, "Zhu Tingkui, the little domain, is a lieutenant of Fengguo. I am still brothers with the acting king, but I am separated from each other and cannot afford it. Now that Xiao Fan is in a Jedi, and I heard that Xiqing is loyal to the court, I hope you will be merciful and save me. At this point, tears rolled down.

Yan Hong frowned, thinking that this master looked really miserable. Immediately said: "Chitose, please get up, please get up!" Sit down and let's talk slowly. Rest assured, if it is useful, you will never give up. ”

Zhu Tingkui saw Yan Hong say this, and then got up. The two of them found a place in the courtyard and sat down. At this time, it was early winter, and the bluestone was cold, but fortunately, in order to meet Yan Hong, the king prepared very carefully, and the stone piers were paved with mattresses, so he didn't feel the bones.

At the beginning, Zhu Yuanzhang, the Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, was born in a poor peasant, and his family concept was extremely important. He wholeheartedly regarded the clan surnamed Zhu as the support of his country, so he not only made more than 20 of his sons princes, but also specially formulated a strict system for the supply of clan knights:

The sons of each emperor, except for the eldest son who succeeded to the throne as the emperor, were all crowned princes. The prince has 10,000 quintals of rice a year. The emperor's daughters were called princesses, and each of them had 2,000 quintals of rice per year.

All the sons of the princes, that is, the grandsons of the emperor, except for the eldest son hereditary prince, the rest were crowned county kings. The king of the county has 2,000 quintals of rice every year. The prince's daughter is called the county lord, and she has 800 quintals of rice per year.

All the sons of the county kings, that is, the great-grandsons of the emperor, except for the eldest son who is the hereditary county king, the rest are named the generals of the town state. General Zhenguo has 1,000 quintals of rice per year. The daughter of the king of the county is called the lord of the county, and she has 600 stone meters per year.

All the sons of the Zhenguo generals, that is, the great-great-grandsons of the emperor, except for the eldest son, the hereditary Zhenguo general, the rest are all auxiliary generals. The auxiliary generals have 800 quintals of rice per year. The daughter of the general of Zhenguo is called Junjun, and she has 400 quintals of rice every year.

All the sons of the auxiliary generals, that is, the gray grandsons of the emperor, except for the eldest son, the hereditary auxiliary general, the rest are named Fengguo generals. General Fengguo has 600 quintals of rice per year. The daughter of the general of the auxiliary country is called the county king, and she has 300 quintals of rice per year.

All the sons of the Fengguo generals, that is, the emperor's sixth grandsons, except for the eldest son, the hereditary Fengguo general, the rest are the lieutenants of Zhenguo. Lieutenant Zhenguo has 400 quintals of rice per year. The daughter of General Fengguo is called Xiangjun, and she has 200 quintals of rice per year.

All the sons of the lieutenants of Zhenguo, that is, the seventh grandsons of the emperor, except for the eldest son, who is the hereditary lieutenant of Zhenguo, the rest are named lieutenants of the auxiliary state. The lieutenant of the auxiliary state has 300 quintals of rice per year. The daughter of Lieutenant Zhenguo will not have Lumi.

All the sons of the lieutenants of the auxiliary state, that is, the eighth grandson of the emperor, except for the eldest son, the hereditary lieutenant of the auxiliary state, the rest were named lieutenants of the state of Fengguo. Lieutenant Fengguo has 200 quintals of rice per year.

Further down, the sons of the lieutenant of Fengguo, except for the eldest son, who can attack the lieutenant of Fengguo, the others are just concubines, and there are no more knights and Yulu. But this is already the ninth grandson. Basically, it is very good to be able to manage the wealth of the "eight generations of ancestors".

Yan Hong didn't care much about these systems in the past, but since he received the task assigned by Emperor Jiajing, he specially learned about them with the old masters in the house, and he roughly understood. For example, Zhu Tingkui, the eighth grandson of the great grandfather in front of him, although he is the lowest lieutenant of Fengguo, he also has 200 quintals of rice every year, and it is enough for dozens of people to eat openly. But looking at this Chitose Master, why is he so embarrassed?

After the two talked, Yan Hong realized that the life of the clan in the Ming Dynasty was by no means as good as imagined. Especially the current Ming Dynasty clan, it is no longer as moisturized as in the early Ming Dynasty.

First of all, there is the proliferation of the number of clans. According to Zhu Yuanzhang's algorithm, the sons of the Daming clan gave birth to grandchildren, and grandchildren gave birth to children, and the total number of people was expanding in a geometric progression. Moreover, every time a new emperor comes to power, a group of princes will be added, as well as county kings, generals at all levels, and lieutenants at all levels.

However, because the high-ranking clans live a rich life and have no worries about food and clothing, they can have more sons if they like to have nothing to do, and if they have more sons, they can get more money, and on the whole, it is a profitable business. The most grandson of Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Jixuan, the king of Qingcheng in the Jin Palace, gave birth to a hundred sons. In this way, the population of the Ming Dynasty clan also rapidly increased from a few dozen people in the Hongwu period to more than 10,000 people in the Jiajing period.

The number of people in the clan is large, and the amount of rice to be spent is also large. For example, in the 31st year of Jiajing, the total revenue from taxes and grain in the whole country was more than 20 million quintals, and the total amount of rice from more than 10,000 clans was as high as more than 8 million quintals, accounting for one-third of the tax and grain revenues in theory. In Shanxi, Henan and other provinces where there are many clans, there is even a spectacle that the local tax grain is not enough for the clan's rice.

The problem is that the civilian clique is not an idiot either. They were originally dissatisfied with the hereditary wealth of the Xungui group, and as for the children and grandchildren of these great grandfathers, they can enjoy the wealth and nobility just by chromosomes, what is the matter? They can't even watch these clans eat up the country's finances.

Nowadays, the imperial court's finances are tight, and even the court officials are half-fed. The monthly rations of the local military guards and the salaries of the battalion soldiers cannot be closed, so why do you think that the clan will definitely be able to count rice?

Or take Zhu Tingkui as an example, his rice is 200 stone a year. However, this 200 stone is still at the theoretical level. In fact, due to the overall financial problems of the country, by this time the method of giving money has become five meters and five bills. One hundred stone of rice will be issued, and another 100 stone of rice will be converted into treasure banknotes (paper money) to pay. The problem is that the treasure banknotes have stopped actually circulating in the early Ming Dynasty, and if you really want to say that the equivalent value is less than one thousandth. However, the government still turned a blind eye to this, and issued treasure notes "worth 100 stone meters" every year, which were basically useless except for lighting fires.

In this way, Zhu Tingkui's actual rice became a hundred quintals per year. Speaking of which, this 100 quintals seems to be a lot, which is more than 10,000 catties, which is higher than the county master's salary, and a family of three or five people can't eat it with an open stomach.

But Zhu Tingkui is not only a wife and children, he has a family. The expenses of the housekeepers and the servants of the family are not paid by the court. As for saying that you don't want to be a subordinate, the dignified clan washes the dishes and buys vegetables by yourself, argues with the vegetable sellers, and carries the rice home by yourself? This kind of self-reliance and indignation, who said it, don't people want to have a face, starvation is a small matter, but face is a big matter! And a hundred stone of rice, used to pay these rewards, is naturally stretched.

And Zhu Tingkui still has to maintain a clan shelf, and many things that should be paid attention to still have to be paid attention to. Otherwise, it will be rude, make people laugh, and it will be even more impossible to be a person in the clan circle. It also costs money to maintain this decency. Gritting his teeth like this, he is naturally getting worse day by day, and his condition is getting worse and worse. (To be continued......)