Jin Lian is a Jinshi in Yongle for 16 years, and after becoming an official, he served as the supervisor of Huguang Dao, and basically patrolled the place in the early part of his entire official career, and he was overworked and tired, leaving him with a lot of hidden diseases.

Now that he is over sixty years old, his body has reached the point where he can't support it, and he can still hold it up with a spirit of energy. As a result, who would have thought that Emperor Zhu Qiyu of Jingtai in the second year ordered that the world's tax was exempted from three-tenths, which was equivalent to a seven-fold discount on taxes.

After receiving this holy decree, Jin Lian did not choose to carry out all of it, but instead issued an official document to the Thirteen Dao Yousi in the name of the Shangshu of the Ministry of Users, announcing that only three-tenths of the grain tax on rice and wheat would be exempted, and the part of the cash register and cloth and silk would be levied at the rate of ten percent.

The reason is that Emperor Jingtai Zhu Qiyu cut taxes in order to reduce the pressure of public opinion brought about by natural disasters and wars, after all, in ancient times, annual disasters would be regarded as ominous signs, and serious points would be extended to the emperor, thinking that the Son of Heaven was immoral, affecting the foundation of the rule.

Cabinet Minister Miao Zhen took the initiative to take the blame and resign in the midst of condemnation, and shouldered the responsibility, alleviating the dissatisfaction of all the people in the world with the emperor.

But Jin Lian is very clear that there is an empty treasury and financial difficulties to the extreme, and there are two wars in Monan, Mongolia and Luchuan, and at this time, thirty percent of the tax is reduced, where will the gap be filled, can it be said that the food and salary of the border army will be deducted again?

Jin Lian didn't want to repeat the mistakes of the first year of Jingtai, most of the grain taxes such as rice and wheat were paid by the poor people at the bottom, so he could grit his teeth and reduce them. Ordinary people were not qualified to use such things as silver taels and cloth and silk, and the taxes of large merchants could not be reduced or exempted together, so there was such a situation where half of the holy decree was carried out.

Originally, Jin Lian's idea was good, but the question was that according to the implementation of the feudal dynasty, would there be such a situation in which the people were exempt from tax and the landlords paid taxes?

Of course, it is impossible, either the people below do not know the policy of the imperial court at all, or the large landlords still pass it on to the ordinary people through various means.

As a result, after this operation, the people complained about the harsh taxes and the court, and Jin Lian also offended the entire elite class, which is equivalent to a displeasure at both ends, and the latter will not give up if he is placed together.

Jiang Yuan, the servant of the ministry, was the initiator of the tax reduction, and the failure to reduce the tax also caused dissatisfaction from all parties, and it was naturally impossible for the pot to carry it by himself, so he went to the household department to find Jin Lian and asked for an explanation.

found that things were starting to get bigger, Jin Lian didn't know whether he was scared or had no choice, so he actually said that there was no such thing. As a result, this stabbed the hornet's nest, and the official of Kedao seemed to have found a breakthrough, and the officials immediately went to Li Kan in the matter, asking the imperial court to thoroughly investigate whether the officials of various departments had violated the performance of the edict.

At this point, if Jin Lian wants to return the hard top, it is not a matter of violating the performance of the edict, but on the contrary, it has become a matter of disobedience to the edict. He could only take the initiative to express everything, bluntly saying that he had a last resort, and he could not maintain the expenses of the front-line war by 30%.

Emperor Jingtai Zhu Qiyu was very clear about the financial situation of the national treasury, and he wanted to pardon Jin Lian's crimes, but he couldn't stand the joint condemnation of the Kedao officials and the elite. In the end, he could only put Jin Lian, the head of the household department, in prison for three days, deprived the crown prince of the crown prince's title, and transferred to the position of the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, which could be regarded as a step down for both parties.

It's just that several other books in the imperial court know better that the financial mess must be incorruptible. He Wenyuan, the secretary of the Ministry of Officials, a close confidant, immediately stood up to show the merits and importance of Jin Lian during his tenure in office, and Zhu Qiyu took the opportunity to cancel the transfer and punishment, and still maintained the appointment of the secretary of the household department.

But the matter has come to this point, Jin Lian understands that there is no place for the DPRK and China, so he simply takes care of himself and begs for bones.

According to the practice of the Ming Dynasty, the emperor should agree to this "letter of resignation" in the near future, and taking advantage of the last time of his tenure, Jin Lian took Li Xian to Daxinglong Temple to watch this lecture and debate on the disadvantages of the clan.

I hope that Li Xian can understand where the real difficulties of Daming's finances lie and what Shen Yichen has done. In the future, he will succeed as the head of the household department, and he can join hands with Shen Yichen to be a good official for the country and the people!

"Those who know the house and leak are in the world, and those who lose the knowledge are in the grassland, the big Situ warns, and the lower officials will remember it."

Li Xian bowed very solemnly, he knew in his heart that Jin Lian brought him over, and he should govern for the people.

In the face of Li Xian's comprehension, Jin Lian smiled with relief: "Yuan De, you have the posture of Zaifu, and the household department is entrusted to you, and the official can rest assured that he will return to his hometown to care for the elderly." ”

Just when Jin Lian completed the handover and found an "ally" for Shen Yichen in the future. The text of the "Treatise on the Disadvantages of the Clans", through the spread of these days, has reached the hands of the major clan princes and vassal kings of the Ming Dynasty.

Among them, Zhu Zhandong, the king of Xiang, who was sealed in Xiangyang Mansion in Huguang, was furious when he learned about it, and immediately called on the prince Zhu Qiyong and the governor of the palace Shi Zhancheng to come over to discuss matters. The reason for his anger was not only Shen Yichen's criticism and restrictions on the clan, but also because he was wary of Emperor Zhu Qiyu's attempt to cut the domain!

You must know that the process of cutting the feudal domain and raising pigs in the Ming Dynasty was gradual, and the earliest powerful princes in the frontier, such as Zhu Quan, the king of Ning, in addition to the personal guards of the royal palace of the headquarters, also governed the three guards of Duoyan who took refuge in Mongolia, and the soldiers and horses under control were as high as seventy or eighty thousand.

In this case, during the Chongzhen period at the end of the Ming Dynasty, there were only 1,000 ordinary princes' guards left, and some princes would ask the emperor to expand the army in the face of military rebellion, and the upper limit after special approval was only 3,000 palace guards.

However, during the Orthodox Jingtai Dynasty in the middle period, the prince still had a nominal palace and three guards. Like Zhu Zhandong, the king of Xiang, who has several times of supervision experience and is highly respected, the total number of soldiers and horses in the three guards of the palace may be close to 10,000.

The fact that the clan vassal kings did not have the ambition to rebel did not mean that they would lose their idea of self-preservation after experiencing events such as Emperor Jianwen's cutting of the feudal domain and the martyrdom of Jing.

If the restrictive taxation measures in Shen Yichen's "Regulations on the Sect and Domain" are passed, then the guard establishment must be cut in disguise, which is unacceptable to Zhu Zhandong, the king of Xiang.

If Shen Yichen wrote an ordinary letter about cutting the domain, Zhu Zhanfeng, the king of Xiang, probably wouldn't take it seriously, because his status and qualifications were there, and the emperor had to give three points of thin face, and it was almost impossible to agree with the courtiers' idea of cutting the domain.

However, Shen Yichen's "Treatise on the Disadvantages of the Sect and Domain" is too outrageous and exaggerated, so that Xiangwang Zhu Zhan Feng couldn't help but wonder, could this be written by the emperor secretly, otherwise that minister ate the bear's heart and leopard gall, and dared to be so arrogant to take the clan to the knife?

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Hearing Zhu Zhandong's summons, the prince Zhu Qiyong and Changshi Zhancheng came to the palace hall, and saw the prince sitting on the main seat with a gloomy face, and the two who didn't know what was going on became cautious.

After the salute, the prince Zhu Qiyong asked softly: "Father, what happened to the palace?" ”

"What can happen to the palace, it is the court that wants to start something!"

After that, Zhu Zhandong, the king of Xiang, threw the transcript of "The Treatise on the Disadvantages of the Sect" directly to Zhu Qiyong and Zhan Cheng.

Picking up the transcription from the ground, the title on the cover alone had already made Shi Zhancheng, the head of the palace, realize the seriousness of the problem. He hurriedly opened the text, and after seeing the contents with his son Zhu Qiyong, his face became extremely pale, and his arms began to tremble slightly.

The palace hall was silent for a long time, until Zhan Cheng finished reading the content of "The Disadvantages of the Sect and the Domain", and then asked tremblingly: "Lord, there is such a piece of music in the imperial court, could it be that Xiang Zhuang's sword dance is intended for Pei Gong, could it be that the matter of King Guangtong has been exposed?" ”

The duties of the governor of the royal palace were originally to be the supervisory officials installed by the imperial court, but often such officials were far away from the center and got along with the feudal kings in the fiefdoms, and instead became the real cronies of the royal palace.

In the early years, when Shen Yichen went out of Shandong, Shi Jianning, the head of King Lu, completely took refuge in the vassal king, and now Shi Zhancheng, the head of the Xiangwang Mansion, is just the next one.

The matter of the king of Guangtong in Zhan Cheng's mouth refers to the matter of Zhu Huiyan, the king of Guangtong in the second year of Jingtai, who united with the Miao soldiers to rebel. And in the process of counterinsurgency in the imperial court, it was also found that Zhu Huiyan, the king of Yangzong, had signs of raising troops to respond, but it was leaked out before it could be done, so the two kings were dismissed and imprisoned within the high walls.

On the surface, King Guangtong rebelled, but he was bewitched and said that he had the appearance of an emperor, but in fact, behind this, King Xiang, who was also in Huguang, was instigating and helping him behind his back. After all, there are only two county kings, and there are only thousands of soldiers and horses under his command, even if they get the help of Tusi Miao's soldiers, it is still beyond their strength to challenge the imperial court.

The martyrdom of Ming Chengzu Zhu Di has become an impossible reproduction of deeds, and the success rate of local vassal kings raising troops is equal to zero.

The reason why King Xiang chose to instigate and help King Guangtong rebel was to take advantage of the continuous natural disasters and wars in the first two years of the Jingtai Dynasty to create a greater war and chaos, so as to expand the doubts of the entire government and public opinion about the legitimacy of Zhu Qiyu's succession.

Then guide to the rumors that this is the emperor is not virtuous, and God will send down punishments, and at least force Jingtai Emperor Zhu Qiyu to issue an edict against himself, or at worst, he can't bear the pressure of public opinion to abdicate.

Xiangwang Zhu Zhandong did this, in fact, it has little to do with his ambitions, he doesn't need to wait until now if he wants to be the emperor. Purely as the concubine of Emperor Renzongzhao, King Xiang couldn't bear the inheritance of a concubine like Zhu Qiyu.

As early as the time when Zhu Qizhen of Yingzong of the Ming Dynasty returned from Mobei, Zhu Zhandong, the king of Xiang, issued several letters one after another, asking Emperor Jingtai Zhu Qiyu to treat the emperor with courtesy as a courtier, and he had to lead his ministers to meet on the first and fifteenth days of the new year.

In history, after the successful restoration of Zhu Qizhen, the king of Xiang, Zhu Zhandong, first said that he destroyed Zhu Qiyu's mausoleum of Empress Hang, on the grounds that Emperor Jingtai had abolished the title of emperor and reduced him to King Yu, so Hang was not worthy of using the mausoleum of the queen's specifications, which was an act of transgression.

In addition to digging up the dead people's graves, Xiangwang Zhu Zhan did not let go of the living, and then suggested that Queen Wang should move out of the palace after the abolition, after all, after Zhu Qiyu died, the palace should be taken back, and let the relics move back to her mother's house.

Dig the grave first, and then kick the widow's door, and those who don't know think that Zhu Qiyu, the emperor of Jingtai, and Zhu Zhandong, the king of Xiang, have a "father-killing enmity" that they don't share, this kind of inexplicable hatred is simply incomprehensible.

If it weren't for the succession of Ming Xianzong Zhu Jianshen, considering that in Yichu back then, Empress Wang once spoke up and rejected the follow-up of Xiangwang Zhu Zhandong, otherwise Jingtai Emperor Zhu Qiyu would not be able to keep his original palace as an emperor.

Although Shi Zhancheng, the head of the Xiangwang Mansion, chose to rebel, just like Shi Jianning, the head of the Lu Wang's Mansion, he was always in a state of fear. Now after reading Shen Yichen's "The Disadvantages of the Sect", when I am a thief, my first reaction is to think of King Guangtong's rebellion.

"It's nonsense, King Guangtong was bewitched by his retainer Duan Youhong to rebel, what does it have to do with this king?"

Zhu Zhan immediately corrected Zhan Cheng's inappropriate words, even if he instigated and fueled the flames behind this, this kind of thing must not be related to rebellion on the surface.

"Yes, yes, the minister knows his mistake!"

Zhan Cheng hurriedly kowtowed and admitted his mistake, he was really frightened by the "cutting of the domain", and he was a little speechless for a while.

"Father, if Your Majesty's actions are related to the affairs of King Guangtong, then it is impossible to announce this letter to the world, which will cause opposition and protest from the clansmen all over the world."

"Erchen guessed that there was a high probability that His Majesty wanted to cut the domain, so he threw out Shen Yichen's chapter to open the way."

Zhu Qiyong, as the prince of the king, is not as afraid as the prince Shi Zhancheng, and can analyze affairs more objectively. If it really involves rebellion, Emperor Jingtai Zhu Qiyu will try his best to get people, instead of making such a big fuss to attract the opposition of the vassals.

It can be inferred from this that the emperor's fundamental intention is to cut the feudal domain, and the exaggerated and outrageous suggestions in this letter are just a trick to ask for a price to repay the money on the spot.

"Yes, it seems that you have grown over the years."

For his son's judgment, Xiangwang Zhu Zhanfeng expressed his satisfaction, and he also believed that after the rebellion of King Guangtong, the emperor was frightened and signaled his courtiers to go up, so as to obtain an excuse to cut the domain.

As for the content of this sparseness, it is impossible to do it, it is nothing more than to leave a room for bargaining.

"Father, since Your Majesty has made an offer, then we must show an attitude of opposition, otherwise we will become fish and meat under the sword!"

"That's right, so what do you have a good suggestion?"

"Why don't my father and the princes join forces to protest together, so that Your Majesty will retreat?"

Listening to the suggestion of the prince Zhu Qiyong, Zhu Zhandong, the king of Xiang, shook his head and said: "It is not enough to rely on the kings, if you want the emperor to realize that the vassals cannot move, you have to come up with more drastic measures, even killing chickens and monkeys!" ”

"Zhan Cheng, immediately select a group of good hands from the palace guards to come out and send a message, this king wants to join King Lu and King Zhao to enter the pilgrimage together, and at the same time denounce Shen Yichen for disturbing the clan and destroying the ancestral system."

"This king wants to see that there is a precedent of Emperor Jianwen, and immediately the saint dares to isolate himself from the clan and risk the disapproval of the world!"