Last time, I talked about Emperor Chongzhen's strong launch of the "New Deal" under the pretext of "post-disaster reconstruction", which was immediately opposed by the "vassal kings" of the world, but I didn't know that there had already been a case in another time and space.

In another time and space, when Zhu Yuanzhang gained a foothold in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province and established the "Ming Dynasty" regime, he set the lowest wage standard in history for the officials of the Ming Dynasty, and at the same time allowed his children and grandchildren to enjoy super high welfare benefits. This is what sets the Ming Dynasty apart from other dynasties.

These princes and grandsons are not controlled by the government, are not restricted by the law, and have a high status, even ordinary princes and ministers have to "bow down" when they see them. Although the "vassal kings" of the Ming Dynasty were forbidden by the emperor to visit each other and enter Beijing to face the saints after the "Battle of Jingyan", their lives were not affected.

After Zhu Yuanzhang established the "Ming Dynasty", in order to allow his children and grandchildren to maintain a prosperous life, he did not hesitate to restore the "sub-feudal system", and divided the princes and grandsons to all parts of the country to be "vassal kings".

However, Zhu Yuanzhang overestimated the role of "blood ties", and did not realize that the essential attribute of "interpersonal relations" is "social" rather than "blood kinship", so there will be a son snatching the throne of his grandson, and a life-and-death struggle broke out between descendants in later generations because of "cutting the feudal domain" and "establishing a prince", highlighting the essence of politics.

The so-called "sociality" is "class nature", that is, the relationship between the "ruling class" and the "ruled class" and the power struggle within the "ruling class". The so-called "the winner is the prince, the loser is the thief", which shows that the power struggle has nothing to do with right and wrong, and has nothing to do with moral hatred, but only about ruthlessness and strength comparison.

These "vassal kings" owned a large amount of fertile land and land, and they were not required to pay taxes and could be passed down from generation to generation. Even so, Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang was afraid that his descendants would be too tired, so he specially stipulated that as long as he was a descendant of his Zhu family, he could not go out to do things from now on, just enjoy the blessings of the world.

As a result, from the age of ten, the "vassal kings" were given money by the government. When the "vassal king" gets married, the imperial court will also pay the house, crown clothes, and wedding expenses. After the death of the "vassal king", the court will also reimburse the funeral expenses, which can be said to be from birth to death, and the "vassal kings" have been properly arranged by the "great grandfather".

Due to Zhu Yuanzhang's pampering, these "vassal kings" were rich and soldier and detached from the government, and soon became the most unstable factor in the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, after the "Battle of Jingyan", Zhu Di took himself as a lesson and took precautions, so he deprived the "vassal king" of his military power and strengthened the monitoring and control of the clan.

After several generations of emperors perfected, the Ming Dynasty gradually formed a strict "feudal ban" system. These systems imposed strict restrictions on the "vassal kings", that is, the clans could not serve as officials, could not participate in politics, and could not support troops. After all, "Emperor Taizong Chengzu" Zhu Di seized power and ascended to the throne with strength as a "vassal king".

By the mid-to-late Ming Dynasty, even the clan was forbidden to do business. The "vassal kings" were not allowed to meet each other, and even when they went out of the city, they had to ask the emperor for leave. Under such a "forbidden domain" system, the "feudal kings" in various places basically became "prisoners" under house arrest. Of course, their living conditions are still better than most people's.

With nothing to do and full of food all day long, the only way to have fun without pressure and absolute prohibition from work is to have children like crazy.

Because "the clan was born at the age of ten, that is, he was given the title of Zhilu." Soon, a smart vassal king discovered that having a child can actually increase family income, for example, giving birth to a "county king" has two thousand stones of rice, and giving birth to a "general of the town country" also has a thousand stones of rice.

The "king" is the "prince of the vassal kingdom", the "general of the town country" is the "concubine" of the "vassal kings", and as for the "county lord" born to the princes, the rewards are relatively small.

As a result, the world is crowded, all for profit. In order to increase income and production, the "vassal kings" in various places, as the royal family of the Ming Dynasty, did their best, desperately recruited wives and concubines, worked hard, and even more talented people, the number of their children was as many as more than 100! Men and women will do it to death as long as they don't die anyway!

During the Zhengde period, the "King Qing" of Shanxi Province could not figure out the number of his own population because of too many descendants, so he could only ask the imperial court for help: "There are many branches in this house, and the children born to each 'general' may falsely report their age, and they have no basis to investigate, and they beg the generals' offices to check and report." This incident caused a sensation in the government and the opposition and became a "classic case"!

Therefore, in order to prevent the number of clans from skyrocketing, the imperial court could only order to limit the number of wives of the clans, that is, the "county king" was in addition to the main concubine, and the number of concubines should not exceed 4; The concubines of the "general" do not exceed 3 people; The concubines of the "lieutenant" may not exceed two people. This slowed down the growth of the number of feudal lords slightly.

After all, the supplies and funds allocated by the imperial court to the "vassal kings" in various places every year have strict hierarchical regulations, and it cannot be "distributed according to needs", but it cannot be said to be "distributed according to work", in case the descendants of some "vassal kings" reproduce too quickly, it will lead to a sharp decline in the per capita welfare of their families, which will seriously affect the quality of life!

But even so, the reproduction speed of Zhu Yuanzhang's descendants is also very amazing! By the end of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang's male descendants had reached 200,000. If you count the daughters, nieces, granddaughters, granddaughters and other female descendants of the "vassal kings" who have married out, it will already exceed one million!

There are more princes and grandchildren, and the palaces and fiefs must also increase in order to be able to afford so many idlers. Because of the generosity of Zhu Yuanzhang's ancestral system, by the middle and late Ming Dynasty, a considerable part of the country's land had been annexed into the hands of these "vassal kings", resulting in a great reduction in the imperial court's taxes, oral taxes, and Ding Fu.

According to the records of Qing history, after the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, a large number of "former vassal kings" were confiscated, only Hunan, Hubei, Shanxi, Shaanxi and Henan five provinces, there are as many as 23 million acres! These royal palaces occupy fertile land, do not need to pay taxes, and have to receive money from the local treasury, which is insatiable!

This has overwhelmed local finances. For example, the fertility champion "King Qing" in Shanxi, because there were too many "county kings" and "generals", there was a miracle that the annual tax and grain in Shanxi were not enough to distribute the "vassal king" Yulu. In the final analysis, it was "Zhu Baba" who was a poor monk and called Huazi back then, and he was afraid of hunger!

This led the minister to appeal that in a few decades, it is likely that the whole country will not be able to support this family and one family. As a result, the emperor, who had a big head, could only reform again. In the "Wanli period", the imperial court implemented the "quota of silver of the sect and the domain", and set a fixed amount for Yulu. After that, no matter how the clans of the province multiplied and grew, the total number of Yulu remained unchanged, which slightly alleviated the huge consumption of the "vassal king" on the Ming Dynasty's finances.

It is only a financial support, and it will not be resented by the people. In fact, due to the special status of the "vassal kings", they are not controlled by the government and are not restricted by the law. Therefore, the "vassal kings" in many places took advantage of their privileges to run amok in the local lawlessness and bully the local people and even the local officials.

In the Ming Dynasty, the imperial court strictly guarded against the rebellion of the "vassal kings", but it was particularly tolerant of the "vassal kings" who acted arbitrarily, seized the people's land, bullied the officials, and robbed the people's daughters.

But retribution will always come. In 1627, there was a famine in Shaanxi, Shanxi, and Henan, and low temperatures, droughts, and locust plagues followed. The peasants had no harvest and even the grass roots were eaten. Wang Er, a peasant in Chengcheng, gathered hundreds of hungry people, killed officials and rebelled, opening the prelude to the peasant uprising at the end of the Ming Dynasty.

On the other hand, through various policy preferences and clever seizures, the "vassal kings" have accumulated mountains of wealth. For example, the "acting king" of Datong, Shanxi, actually owns 1,060 houses; Henan "Fuwang", owns half of Henan Province's cultivated land and minerals, millions of money, and the pearl and jade goods at home are bribed by the mountain.....

Due to the solid family background and the people's resentment, according to the ancestral system, the "vassal kings" could not have an army. As a result, these people were simply "supply packages" tailored for the peasant rebels, and once they lost the protection of the government, they could basically only sit and wait to be killed, and they all became "big fat pigs" to be slaughtered.

Take the "Blessed King" Zhu Changxun as an example, this person owns half of Henan Province, is rich in the world, but in the face of famine, he refuses to give grain of rice to the people.

In the fourteenth year of Chongzhen, the thief leader Li Zicheng and the hungry ants captured Luoyang, and the "Fu King" Zhu Changxun fled to the "broken temple" in a hurry, but because of his obesity, he was quickly caught. "Fu King" Zhu Changxun knelt on the ground and begged for his life, but Li Zicheng was unmoved and reprimanded: "You are the prince, and you are rich in the world." When there is such a famine, they refuse to give a single treasure to the people? Thou shalt be a minion, too! "Ordered Zhu Changxun to be dragged down and punished with forty boards, and then executed in public.

According to statistics, from the fourteenth year of Chongzhen to the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, there were only 14 clans at the level of "princes" killed by the peasant army, such as "King Fu", "King Tang", "King Hui", "King of Han", "King Dai", "King of Jin", etc., accounting for more than half of the number of "princes" in the Ming Dynasty at that time!

As for the miscellaneous fish such as "county king", "general" and "lieutenant", there are countless of them. In Shanxi alone, there are as many as 10,000 descendants surnamed Zhu killed by Li Zicheng! At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the rebels were like crossing the river, but no matter how big or small, they all had a common attitude towards these Zhu descendants, that is, they should be killed!

This indirectly shows that the actions of the "vassal kings" in various places have completely stood on the opposite side of the people of the world, and the essence is that the gap between the rich and the poor is too large! The people hated these people to the core. The historian concluded: "All the branches of the royal palace, regardless of obedience and disobedience, regardless of the military and the people, and all those with the surname Zhu will be killed." ”

The rebellious liquidation of the "vassal kings" frightened these pampered royal families. As a result, the well-behaved "vassal kings" learned to flee in a hurry when they heard the wind of the righteous army. Taking Chu as an example, Changsha "King Ji", Changde "King Rong", Baoqing "King Min", etc., "all heard the thief coming, and collapsed in the wind".

The local government resisted, but the "vassal king" took the lead in fleeing, which had a very bad impact on morale and worried the ministers of the court. According to the rules of the Ming Dynasty, the "vassal king" could not leave his fiefdom, and begged the court to severely punish the fleeing vassal king.

As a result, Emperor Chongzhen immediately severely reprimanded the fleeing "clans", even if the "thieves" (peasant rebels) came to the door, the "vassal kings" were not allowed to escape from the thieves, and asked these "clans" to "stick to the city, then unite as one, that is, to lay the golden soup!" This is indeed the purpose of Zhu Yuanzhang's original "separation".

Poor these "vassal kings", not only subject to the ancestral system, can not recruit troops to the king, but also limited by the imperial court prohibition, can not flee privately, after the Ming army in various places is about to collapse, have to stick to the empty city, sit and wait for the "thief soldiers" (peasant rebel army) to come, really have nowhere to shout injustice, rotten and wait for death.

The "vassal kings" of the Ming Dynasty were blocked because of the road to advancement, so most of them were unlearned and short-sighted, even if they sat in the city, they basically helped the unlucky. For example, in the first battle of Jiaxian, the elite of the Ming army was lost. However, in order to defend Xi'an, the imperial court urgently requisitioned 5,000 Sichuan troops to assist in the defense, but the result was unsatisfactory.

The northwest was cold and frozen, and the southern army had not been issued with cold clothing, and Zhu Cunshu, the "King of Qin", was rich in the world. So, the guards of Xi'an persuaded Zhu Cunshu, the "King of Qin", to donate some silver taels to add some warm clothes to the Sichuan soldiers who were ordered to help, but they were scolded by Zhu Cunshu, the "King of Qin", and scolded the other party as worthless.

The Sichuan army was extremely indignant, and simply opened the door and surrendered to Li Zicheng, resulting in the "King of Qin" Zhu Cunshu being captured alive, and all the family wealth was used as military funds.

Moreover, this is not an isolated case, the "King of Shu", who is known for his "good yellow and white smelting", was asked to donate money to help the salary, but claimed that "the family has no savings, only a palace, and I beg to sell the help." When the "Murder Demon King" Zhang Xianzhong came to the city, he took out a lot of money, but unfortunately no one responded, so he became a prisoner.

Zhu Huakui, the "King of Chu", was kneeling down by the Hubei magistrate to ask for help, but refused with the "imperial chair" given by Zhu Yuanzhang, and threatened to let the magistrate "sell the chair to reward the three armies". As a result, the soldiers were disappointed and returned, and the thieves (peasant rebels) then invaded Wuchang, obtaining a million taels of gold and silver, and carrying hundreds of carts!

The money and possessions of these "vassal kings" were piled up, but the soldiers were forced to defend the city in the cold wind and hungry, and most of them refused to donate money, so they often provoked the army to mutiny. The thieves (peasant army) naturally had no good impression of these captured Zhu descendants, and basically slaughtered them all.

Until 1644, after the Manchu Qing Dynasty entered the customs, in order to buy people's hearts, on the surface, the "former Ming clan" was mainly to solicit favors, but in fact, they harbored evil intentions. Therefore, by the end of May, the Jingshi and the surrounding areas had all leaked through the net, and when they heard that the "New Dynasty" had issued money and rice to official positions, they all showed their heads and moved closer to the Qing Dynasty.

However, with the successive victories of the Manchu Qing Dynasty in the following military struggle, from the second year of Shunzhi, the Qing Dynasty's attitude towards the "former Ming clan" also began to turn, not only to suppress the Ming clan politically and economically deprived it, but also to prohibit the former Ming clan from being an official and confiscate its land.

In August, the Qing Dynasty intensified and began to restrict the personal freedom of these "former Ming clans", so it issued a proclamation: "Therefore, all the kings of the Ming Dynasty, no matter how big or small, will go to Beijing to meet them." In the third year of Shunzhi, he ordered: "Those who surrender land to the former Ming clan will not die, otherwise they will be punished no matter how young they are!" ”

As a result, in the five years from the third year of Shunzhi to the eighth year of Shunzhi, tens of thousands of people were killed by the "former Ming clan" who did not cooperate with or rebelled against the rule of the Manchu Dynasty, and more than 50 people with the title of "county king" or above! At the same time, the Manchu Qing Dynasty also fabricated charges against the "former Ming clan" who voluntarily surrendered to sincerity, and carried out large-scale collective killings.

In May of the third year of Shunzhi, the Qing court opened the prelude to the massacre of the "former Ming clan" on the grounds that the "former Ming clan" in Beijing "privately made seals and scarves and plotted against them", and eleven people including the "King of Lu", "King Jing" and "King Heng" were killed; In the fifth year of Shunzhi, "King Fu", "King Jin", "King Lu" and so on were killed again.

At the same time, local non-governmental organizations also launched a campaign to massacre the "former Ming clan" and "exterminate family property", further widening the class contradiction of the "gap between the rich and the poor." So far, the number of "Ming Dynasty clans" has decreased sharply, and the total number of people killed has increased from the initial more than one million to less than 10,000! This is the cycle of cause and effect.

Since then, the social status of the "former Ming clan" has fallen to the point that even ordinary people are inferior, such as "killing pigs during the New Year". Except for a small number of "former Ming clans" who hid in the rivers and lakes and formed the "Heaven and Earth Society" as "chivalrous guests" to "oppose the Qing Dynasty and restore the Ming Dynasty", most of the descendants of the Zhu family changed their surnames incognito and became ordinary people.

Just like the folk customs of later generations, "killing ducks on the fifteenth day of August" and "killing pigs on the twenty-fourth day of the lunar month". The former's "killing ducks" is actually "killing Tartars", which is the secret language of the non-governmental organization "Knife Man on Credit" in the last years of the Yuan Dynasty, "killing Tartars on August 15"; The latter is the meaning of the "clan vassal kings" in the last years of the Ming Dynasty who were raided and exterminated by the peasant rebels.

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Haha, thank you for your attention, collection, recommendation, subscription and review of this book! As an author, I am very happy and honored to provide readers with a novel that meets the needs of the general public. As the saying goes, "Life is short, but the tip of the pen is slender." "Therefore, the road to cultivation is long, where to find immortality? There is nowhere to go for troubles, and read the people in the book! I hope that the novel "Heaven and Earth Let Me Go" series can bring happiness and insight to everyone!

This story is pure fiction, if there are similarities, it is a coincidence! Friends, the part-time job is hard, the time is urgent, the creation is not easy, like the collection, by the way, forward, want to know the plot? Next time I break it down! ("The book has its own golden house?") There are thousands of bells in the book? There is Yan Ruyu in the book"? Welcome to my book)