Ming Dynasty: Evolution from snake to national guardian beast

Chapter 108 Jianwen’s New Deal

In April, the thirty-first year of Hongwu.

Less than three months after the death of Emperor Hongwu, Zhu Yunwen promulgated the Jianwen New Deal.

The content of the New Deal is very simple:

The first item: Emphasis on literature over military affairs, raise the grades of all six ministers by two levels. The ministers who were originally only second-rank ministers became first-rank officials, on an equal footing with the vassal king.

Originally, the chief envoys of each province were only in the second rank, but Zhu Yunwen promoted them all to the second rank.

It can be said that Zhu Yuanzhang immediately conquered the world, and he also focused on military generals. This can be seen from the grades of the governors and local vassal kings.

As Zhu Yunwen was close to the scholar-bureaucrats, he naturally put the scholars first. However, Zhu Yunwen's move indeed enabled the literati and bureaucrats of the dynasty to serve the court and assist the government.

Fang Xiaoru once recorded: The emperor is the heir to the great throne, he is pure and respectful, his joy and anger are invisible, he gently reduces his gifts, rewards and punishments are similar, his actions are appropriate, and his actions last for many years. and.

The second item: reduce taxes. When Zhu Yuanzhang attacked Zhang Shicheng, the Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas supported Zhang Shicheng, making it very difficult for Zhu Yuanzhang to attack.

After Zhu Yuanzhang took over Suzhejiang and founded the country and proclaimed himself emperor, he directly issued an order to impose heavy taxes on the area, which made the local people miserable.

However, the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions are originally the most affluent areas in the country, and the literary style is prevalent.

As the imperial examination progressed, more and more literati from Jiangsu and Zhejiang entered the court and became officials. These people naturally could not make trouble during the Zhu Yuanzhang period, but for Zhu Yunwen, they fought hard based on their reasons, hoping that Zhu Yunwen could alleviate their local problems. tax. Zhu Yunwen's staunchest supporters were the scholar-bureaucrats, who were naturally obedient and ordered the taxes in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas to be consistent with other areas of the Ming Dynasty, which won him the hearts and minds of the people in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas.

The imperial edict promulgated by Zhu Yunwen only contained these two reforms, which seemed very simple. However, the most important reform, which Zhu Yunwen did not write in the imperial edict, was to reduce the vassal status.

Things are made secret, and words are leaked.

Zhu Yunwen naturally knew that this kind of thing should be done quietly, and no gunmen should be involved.

Just when Zhu Yunwen promulgated a decree, attracting the attention of the whole world, an elite group of Beijing troops was marching northwest along the official road. Surprisingly, the commander of this army was actually Li Jinglong.

Since Li Jinglong left Beijing, he entered Anhui from Zhili in the south with great fanfare, under the slogan of going north to patrol the border and train border soldiers.

Then, it turned from Anhui to Henan.

Everyone in the world thought that this was just a political show by Zhu Yunwen. After all, it was normal for the new emperor to express condolences to the soldiers on the border when he ascended the throne. But an accident happened at this time. When Li Jinglong passed by Kaifeng on his way north, , suddenly led an army to surround the Zhou Palace.

Then Li Jinglong took out the imperial edict in front of King Zhou and rebuked King Zhou for his rebellious intentions and treason. However, because King Zhou was the son of Emperor Taizu Gao, he was spared his life, but the vassal title of King Zhou was revoked, the vassal land was taken back, and the whole family of King Zhou was moved to Yingtian Mansion and imprisoned, and they were not allowed to leave Yingtian Mansion for life.

When King Zhou heard the imperial edict, he was shocked and immediately cried out for injustice. It's a pity that since Li Jinglong appears here, it is destined that there is no room for turning things around, and Zhu Yunwen is not without evidence to deal with King Zhou.

Just last month, Zhu Yunwen suddenly received a memorial. The content of the memorial was that the second son of King Zhou reported that his father had rebelled.

This made Zhu Yunwen extremely happy. He was really sleepy and gave him a pillow. Zhu Yunwen was so excited that he directly called his three think tanks.

Then, everyone used Qi Tai's method to fake the plan of Huo Yu. Zhu Yunwen sent Li Jinglong, bluffing along the way. After arriving in Kaifeng, he made a sudden attack and captured all the kings of Zhou. Nothing happened in the process. The king of Zhou was obediently deposed, and the royal guards were dismissed on the spot by Li Jingjiang. King Zhou became Zhu Yunwen's first trophy, and he placed him in Yingtian Mansion and imprisoned him for life.

What happened in Kaifeng detonated the entire Ming Dynasty.

All knowledgeable people know that Zhu Yunqi is about to attack the feudal king, and there are not many days of peace left.

Prince Yan's Mansion.

When Zhu Di learned that his fifth brother had been kidnapped by Zhu Yunwen, his anger instantly ignited, and he immediately went to find Zhu Yunwen to settle the score.

However, they were stopped by Bai Chu, Yang Shiqi and the old monk.

Although Zhu Di is now considered to be a strong soldier, the gap with the imperial court is still very large. Since Zhu Di returned to Peiping with his family a few months ago, he has not had a moment to reconnect with his old subordinates, especially Zhang. Yu, Zhu Neng, Qiu Fu and others were all very excited when they saw Zhu Di back.

Afterwards, Zhu Di took Bai Chu on Ma He's ship and went to Bodhi Island and Moon Island to see the current situation on the islands. After Zhu Di landed on the island, he was stunned when he saw one hundred thousand soldiers, tens of thousands of horses, and countless weapons and armors.

Unexpectedly, in just a few years, the old monk had accumulated such strong strength for himself, and with the 100,000 soldiers and horses in Beiping Mansion, Zhu Di felt that he had the capital to compete with Zhu Yunwen.

However, Bai Chu poured cold water on Zhu Di and said:

"Your Majesty, it's better to be calm. Zhu Yunwen has the troops and horses in the world. Not to mention other things, there are 500,000 troops in the Beijing camp. These are the elites from all over the country. We recruits can't match them.

Zhu Di resisted the urge to take action immediately, and then stayed in the camp for a few days to let the soldiers on the island know who they were loyal to. Only then did Zhu Di leave reluctantly.

In the next few months, Zhu Di continued to be active in the military camp, leaving his footprints in Peking, Miyun, Huailai, Juyongguan and Zijingguan, and even outside the pass.

Zhu Di allowed the soldiers in the north to see his majestic figure. It was not until he made a large circle in the north that Zhu Di returned to Peiping.

After this round, Zhu Di has obviously become thinner and darker, but it is all worth it, because he has announced his return to these places.

Zhu Di believed that as long as he raised the flag of rebellion, these places would surely fall.

However, when Zhu Di just returned to Peiping.

Then I received the news that King Zhou was banned.

This made Zhu Di, who was a little swollen, as if he was being stimulated and was about to explode. Fortunately, several people persuaded him, and Zhu Di gradually calmed down, but the anger in his heart did not diminish at all. "My lord, why bother fighting for the moment?"

Bai Chu said quickly:

"Now time is on our side. The later we start the incident, the better prepared we are, and the greater the possibility that time will be the most important." "Now that Zhu Yunwen has succeeded in cutting off the vassal king of Zhou, he will only become more proud and complacent. Next, he will start the second and third until all the vassal kings are completely eliminated." "As the nephew of the kings, Zhu Yunwen is now doing things to eliminate the vassals, and the people will definitely think that he is cold and heartless.

(End of this chapter)