Daming: I help my wife be the empress

Chapter 434 "The First Draft of the Reform of the Suzerainty and Vassal System in the Ming Dynasty"

Although Auntie Zhu believes that increasing revenue is the correct way to solve financial problems, she and Hao Guangming see some financial expenditures as belonging to the province, which can be used to reduce expenditure.

For example, the salaries of vassal kings and clans, and the Ming assets they occupy.

Auntie Zhu held financial meetings with the cabinet for several days in a row, involving various aspects, and finally talked about the suzerain vassal issue on this day.

The Ming Dynasty had the Clan Mansion, but in the Yongle Dynasty, the Clan Mansion became a virtual institution, and the clan affairs were actually in charge of by the Ministry of Rites.

In addition, when Li Zicheng broke Beijing last year, several officials of the clan's mansion either surrendered or died for the country, and Auntie Zhu did not reset the clan's mansion and clan order after registration.

Therefore, the Ming Dynasty in the Zhaowu Dynasty did not have the institution of the Clan Mansion.

Fortunately, when Aimee Zhu intended to deal with the suzerain vassal issue before, she asked the Ministry of Rites to be responsible for collecting relevant information, and now she can only ask.

"Master of the Ministry of Rites, please tell me about the current situation of my vassal clan in the Ming Dynasty," Zhu Yu said.

In the few months since her accession to the throne, Aimee Zhu has been slowly changing some of her previous habits and has become more concerned with etiquette.

For example, when communicating with these cabinet ministers and ministers on informal occasions, they are often called Mr.; and in more formal meetings like this, they are called official positions.

Huang Daozhou heard the words, got up and bowed, and flipped through the workbook in his hand.

The workbook has replaced the previous Banhu and became the standard equipment for Zhaowu courtiers. After the first few days of discomfort, many officials found that the workbook is much more practical than the Banhu.

In the work of various departments, as well as in court meetings, it has become the norm to flip through the prepared workbooks and report things.

"Your Majesty, at present, there are 27 registered princes in my Ming Dynasty, 613 registered county kings, and more than 33 registered imperial clans.

However, this data was obtained by Chongzhen in 13 years. As for the actual number of suzerains and vassals at all levels, it can only be barely determined to the level of the county king.

In addition, the world has been in turmoil for many years, and most of the suzerains and vassals were slaughtered by bandits, and some died of other reasons, so the actual number must be much lower than the registered number. "

The main participants in this meeting were the cabinet ministers and the minister of the Ministry of Rites, who basically understood the situation, so they all looked calm after listening to Huang Daozhou's report.

Auntie Zhu nodded slightly.

She is currently only aware of the situation of the princes.

For example, among the 27 princes, Prince Fu and her two younger brothers Prince Ding and Prince Yong were not counted, let alone Zhu Cihong.

Among them, King Fu has been decreed by her to expel the vassal, and the three generations of King Fu will be under house arrest in Nanjing.

As for her three brothers, their whereabouts are still unknown, so naturally they will not be counted.

In addition, most of the princes such as King Lu, King Lu, King Tang, King Chu, King Gui, King Heng, and King Qin were taken to Nanjing City.

Those whose entire families were killed by the peasant army, or those who disappeared, were also approached by the Ministry of Rites to attack the vassal clan.

Since Auntie Zhu is discussing the suzerainty issue today, she represents the main force of the suzerainty. The 27 princes are already in Nanjing, and they are under her control.

These princes will be supported by her from the internal funds for the time being, so naturally she will not give them much good treatment, basically just a house that can barely accommodate a family, and guarantee that the food and clothing are not shabby.

Therefore, the 27 princes added together cost tens of thousands of taels of silver a year, which is nothing.

But this is not a long-term solution.

Aimee Zhu plans to send all the princes overseas in the future, and this financial meeting will discuss this issue by the way.

"Let's talk about the salaries of the suzerains and vassals in the past." Aimee Zhu said.

Huang Daozhou turned over a few pages of the workbook, and said: "In the Ming Dynasty, the salaries of the vassals have been changed several times. In the Chongzhen Dynasty, the prince's annual salary was reduced to ten thousand shi, the county king's two thousand shi, the town general's thousand shi, and the auxiliary country's general. Eight hundred stones, General Fengguo six hundred stones, Lieutenant Zhenguo four hundred stones, Lieutenant Fuguo three hundred stones, Lieutenant Fengguo two hundred stones."

Aunt Zhu and all the ministers frowned when they heard this.

If the vassal salaries of the Chongzhen Dynasty were strictly distributed, among other things, the 613 county kings alone would need to distribute 122 shi of grain a year.

Counting other levels of vassals, this number will only increase.

What's more, according to the practice of the previous imperial court, it was not the annual salary that the prince and the county king consumed most of their finances, but the property of the suzerain vassal.Generally, they are fields, or some local taxation, minerals and other resources.

Therefore, although the issue of suzerains and vassals is not the biggest problem of Ming Dynasty, it is definitely a problem that must be solved, otherwise Daming will sooner or later be dragged down by the increasing number of suzerains and vassals.

Thinking of this, the cabinet ministers are determined to reform the suzerainty system.

Aimee Zhu said: "You have all seen it, the current issue of the vassals of the Ming Dynasty has come to an end. Otherwise, even if we and the ministers drive out the Qing captives and bring peace to the world, we will at most continue the fate of the Ming Dynasty for decades. That's all.

As for how to solve the suzerain and vassal issue, I have had many discussions with Zhu Qing before.Now the secretariat has been asked to formulate a "First Draft of the Reform of the Daming Suzerainty System", and all the ministers should take a look. "

After Aimee Zhu finished speaking, Liu Zhu, who had already prepared, distributed the eight white booklets that had been prepared to the tables of all the ministers.

Then there was a sound of reading.

Hao Guangming saw this scene through the phone camera on the other side, and couldn't help but take a screenshot and recorded a short video of more than ten seconds. He thought it was very interesting, and subconsciously wanted to post it on the Internet.

But he finally held back.

Then he also picked up a copy of "The First Draft of the Reform of the Great Ming Suzerainty System" and read it-this document was actually an outline drawn up by him. He had read the content several times, but he still wanted to see if there were any omissions.

The first is to reform the clan title system.

First, directly abolish the titles of the clan below the county king, and allow the clan below the county king to fend for themselves.

In fact, the Ming Dynasty continued to operate on the suzerain-vassal system. During the Wanli Dynasty, the Wujue clan was allowed to fend for themselves.Aimee Zhu's reform this time is just a more ruthless cut.

In this way, the Ming court only needs to be responsible to the prince and county king, and there are currently less than a thousand people, and the burden will be greatly reduced immediately.

Second, a vassal school was established, and the heirs of princes and county princes had to pass the exams of the vassal school if they wanted to inherit the title.

If there are multiple heirs to a title, the one with the highest test score will inherit the title; on the contrary, if a prince or county king still passes the test ten years after his death, the title will be removed directly.

The reason why it is set as ten years is mainly to deal with the situation that the heirs of the vassal king died when they were young.

Third, the county king can only pass on to the third generation, since the great-grandson of the county king is a commoner.Prince Jue can be passed on to the fifth generation, and then reduced to the county king, and then passed on to the third generation as a commoner.

Fourth, both princes and county kings can work overseas. They can be rewarded for meritorious service, and can also increase the number of title successions. The county king can even become a prince through meritorious service.

Although these four measures for the reform of the title of vassal and vassal were severe, they also gave the vassal princes the possibility to turn around, so they are not considered harsh.

As for the suzerains and vassals after the county princes who were directly hacked down to civilians, they might not be unhappy.

For one thing, since the Jiajing Dynasty, the imperial court has not paid enough salaries to the vassals. In the Chongzhen Dynasty, many of them delayed the payment, so that some vassals with titles were starved to death.

Second, although Auntie Zhu cut off their titles, they allowed them to engage in various industries in a fair manner like ordinary people. For those aspiring vassals, it was no different from a chance of rebirth.

In addition, in the southeast that experienced the last years of Chongzhen, these suzerains and vassals may not have 20, and they are scattered everywhere, and they are not popular. Even if there is chaos, the imperial court can fight back.

Secondly, Zhu Yu also reduced the salaries of the only surviving princes and county vassals.

The Prince's Sui Lu was reduced to five thousand stones, and the County King's Sui Lu was reduced to a thousand stones.It is converted into silver based on the price of grain in March of that year.

In the end, it was the most important reform for suzerains and vassals - no longer feudal vassals in the Ming Dynasty!

(End of this chapter)