Chapter 373 Emperor Jiajing and the Clan
Emperor Jiajing also hated the issue of hereditary inheritance, but unfortunately it was Taizu's ancestral system. Even Zhu Di, who succeeded in "Jingnan" as a vassal king, also knew that When the hereditary system is unsustainable, in the end, in order to emphasize the political correctness of their rebellion,
I also had to stand on the moral high ground of supporting Taizu's ancestral system and reprimand his great nephew for going against the grain and violating the ancestral system and cutting down the vassalage. Therefore, even at the end, Zhu Di also imposed some restrictions on the abilities of the vassal kings, but it was only a restriction and did not endanger their hereditary status.
But there were only a few vassal kings during the Zhu Di period? After all, including some princes born to princes, the number is only fifty.
But during the Jiajing period, it had to be turned over several times this month.
And this does not include the clan members with lower titles under the county king.
If they were included, anyone looking at this number would make their heart twitch.
Because almost all of these people are not engaged in production and rely entirely on salaries from the imperial court and local yamen for support.
Although during the period of Emperor Xiaozong and Hongzhi, his uncle, he also made certain changes in this matter and reduced the amount of treasure banknotes even more, but these vassal princes and princes themselves did not rely on these salaries. And alive.
They lived by annexing surrounding land and taking advantage of their clan status to not pay taxes.
Therefore, although they do not have much freedom in their respective feudal countries, they are definitely not beings that anyone can easily provoke.
Even if they angered local officials such as governors and chief envoys, they would still beat them, and after the beating, the court would at most just reprimand them, which would not hurt the root cause.
So, after two hundred years of development, the vassal clan has actually become an unspeakable abscess in the Ming Dynasty.
Now that it was so satisfying to see Hu Zongxian dealing with another group of non-clan nobles and another group of hereditary gangsters, Emperor Jiajing was extremely envious.
As the saying goes: The beauty of a gentleman will be cut off in five lifetimes.
Most of these clans actually have a blood relationship with the royal family for more than five generations.
In addition, coupled with the principle that the vassal king must be outside the vassal, many vassal princes and clans, even close relatives, almost have no feelings at all.
They are completely "family members" in the patriarchal sense, but psychologically strangers.
Imagine a bunch of strangers you have never met before, asking you for money every year. How does that feel?
It must be either too much or too unpleasant.
But limited by patriarchal laws and etiquette, even the most bastard of emperors had to hold their noses and admit defeat. Why did Taizu and the emperors after Chengzu not have the absolute authority to overwhelm the world?
So, sometimes we just have to endure it.
But even if he endured it, Emperor Jiajing would resort to thunderous methods whenever he had the opportunity to deal with some disobedient vassal kings.
For example, in the third year of Jiajing's reign, King Qing Zhu Taihao bribed the eunuchs around Emperor Jiajing regardless of life and death, hoping to get back his salary that had been cut off by the court. But he didn't even want to think about why his salary was cut off?
In the fifth year of Zhengde, Zhu Zhixiu, the king of Anhua County, a branch of King Qing, rebelled. This cowardly Zhu Taihao actually paid homage to Zhu Zhixiu for his safety. But who is Zhu Zhixiu? If he visited a poor place like the Great Northwest, wouldn't he be seeking death?
You must know that the Ming Dynasty has been fighting with the Tatars in the north for more than a hundred years, and almost all the elite troops are in the Jiubian area. Isn't his rebellion just to provide benefits to these fierce frontier troops?
So, Zhu Zhixiu's rebellion was suppressed almost as soon as it emerged.
Qing King Zhu Taiyi did not actually participate in the rebellion, but as the head of the Qing Dynasty, he could not escape responsibility. For this reason, the then emperor Wuzong Zhengde issued an edict in the name of the imperial court to remove his bodyguards. , the salary was also reduced by one-third.
Originally, this matter was over in this way, but unfortunately, Zhu Taixun thought that the emperor had been replaced, and the new emperor would be merciful to show his respect for the clan's blind date. Punishments received by the previous emperor were pardoned.
But it is a pity that Emperor Jiajing himself has such a "cold" character, and he hates Zhu Taiyi, a vassal king who has come to seek relatives after who knows how many generations.
So just when Zhu Taihang lost his mind and thought that bribing the eunuchs around Emperor Jiajing would be foolproof, Emperor Jiajing became ruthless and deposed Zhu Taihang's throne!
Originally, Emperor Jiajing wanted to take advantage of the situation and depose Qing Fan, but he considered that his foundation was unstable just three years after he took the throne, and Qing Fan was still in the lineage of Emperor Taizu's 16th son Zhu Zhuan (zhān).
So Emperor Taizu couldn't give him any face, so after deposing Zhu Taiyi, Emperor Jiajing could only pinch his nose and let Zhu Taiyi's son Zhu Bufang be granted the title of Prince Qing, and this was also The first vassal king deposed by Emperor Jiajing.
Then in the 29th year of Jiajing, Prince Zheng Zhu Hounan, who came from the lineage of Emperor Renzong, wrote to Emperor Jiajing many times, asking Emperor Jiajing not to take elixirs, not to indulge in Taoism too much, and to spend time Carefully manage the country and country of your ancestors.
Didn't you just stir up a hornet's nest now?
Emperor Jiajing flew into a rage and hated Prince Zheng Zhu Houtan deeply. This Zhu Houtan doesn't even know what his ancestors are? Relying on the love of his father and brother, the first generation Zheng Wang Zhu Zhanyu was picky about his fiefdom and changed it from Fengxiang Mansion in Shaanxi to Huaiqing Mansion in Henan Province.
But this old man, maybe because he has been favored since he was a child, is often assigned some tasks to worship the emperor's mausoleum on behalf of the emperor. Once his arrogance becomes stronger, he is always tempted by himself. The emperor Baozong at that time was also extremely troubled by his uncle. However, considering the special status of this uncle, Baozong only issued an edict and severely reprimanded him, without any real trigger.
Now the seventh generation grandson of this bastard thing actually wrote to Emperor Jiajing regardless of life and death, asking Emperor Jiajing not to take drugs, not to be superstitious, and to be diligent. Isn't this just jumping up and hitting Emperor Jiajing in the face?
You must know that it was also in this year that Emperor Jiajing removed Emperor Renzong Zhu Gaochi from the Ancestral Temple. At this time, Prince Zheng of the Renzong clan actually submitted a letter at this time. No matter what kind of background he came from Psychologically, Emperor Jiajing must give him three points of praise!
Therefore, when Emperor Jiajing became ruthless, he deposed Zhu Hounan as a commoner on the grounds that the vassal king interfered with the government affairs, and imprisoned him under the high wall of Fengyang, so that he could think about his mistakes in Fengyang.
We can just talk about the two incidents of deposing the king. In fact, Emperor Jiajing was extremely benevolent and righteous. He did not do anything, did not directly abolish the vassal, and left some way for Qing Fan and Zheng Fan to survive.
But how did these feudal kings repay him?
Recently, Emperor Jiajing received a report that King Hui Zhu Zaijuan was killing people randomly in his fiefdom. Emperor Jiajing had been suppressing this report but not publishing it. Now Emperor Jiajing saw Hu Zongxian's methods. At this moment His mind couldn't help but move.
“Should we give Hu Zongxian the status of an imperial envoy and ask him to go to Junzhou Mansion to investigate the Hui King Zhu Zaijuan?”
Emperor Jiajing couldn't help but think about the feasibility of this matter.
(End of this chapter)