Chapter 2793
The decline of the Dewang family had obvious signs more than 20 years ago. The Central Plains region suffered from continuous natural disasters and wars for many years, and Jinan Mansion was inevitably affected. The fields under the name of Dewang Mansion were also affected at that time. Most of it was abandoned.
In 1639, when the Qing army invaded Shandong and captured Jinan Prefecture, they even ransacked Prince De's residence. If the old Prince De had not arranged for some of his family members to flee when the situation was bad, the entire lineage of Prince De would have been ruined. In that war.
For more than ten years after that, Prince De's Mansion has been in a very difficult situation. On the one hand, the imperial court could no longer continue to pay salaries to the palace. On the other hand, the fields under the name of Prince De's palace had almost become wasteland, and the harvest was quite meager. Prince De's palace often had to sell off the few remaining possessions in order to make ends meet.
Although it has the name of a royal palace, its living standard has nothing to do with its status as a royal family. It is even far less powerful than the gentry in the Denglai area at the same time. By the time Zhu Zian left Jinan and joined Haihan, the palace was left with nothing but empty frames.
As long as they can barely survive, Prince De's palace probably won't give up the dignity of being a descendant of the royal family and choose to cooperate with Haihan. Of course, Prince De's Mansion also understood that what Haihan valued was not the talent of the Prince's children, but the crumbling signboard of Prince De's Mansion and the political value hidden behind it.
Although the Dewang family had become a dilapidated aristocracy and was no longer even on the Ming court's attention list, with the help of Haihan, they soon got a chance to make a comeback.
According to Chen Yixin's instructions, the Northern Region first funded a partial reconstruction of the palace that had been in disrepair, allowing the Palace of De to regain its former glory.
At the same time, Dewangfu obtained the operating rights for most Haihan products in Shandong and North China. A large amount of commercial goods were transported to Jinanfu via land and Yellow River shipping, and then sold to surrounding places through Dewangfu.
The income generated in this process is much higher than the thousands of acres of fields that Prince De's palace relied on in the past, and it is all cash flow. There is no need to wait for the long planting and harvesting periods like agricultural products to see the benefits.
During this period, Prince De's Palace did not hide its "friendly relationship" with the Haihan official. In accordance with Chen Yixin's instructions, it even took the initiative to disclose the arrangements for the Prince's children to go to Haihan to study and take exams. Although public opinion has mixed reviews on this, anyone with a discerning eye can realize that at this time, Prince De's Mansion and Ming Ting were no longer of the same mind.
With money, power and backing, Prince De's re-emergence was astonishingly fast, and he became an admired prince and aristocrat again in just a few months. The officials, businessmen, and gentry in Shandong seemed to suddenly remember their traditional friendship with Prince De's Palace. For a time, the Palace was filled with people and bustle.
In this era of the decline of the Ming Dynasty and the rise of Haihan, how to stand in the right position is a difficult test for many people. The position of Prince De's Palace seems to have become a new example, showing everyone how the vested interests of the previous dynasty can make a smooth transition to the new dynasty.
Of course, this is not a skill that everyone can learn, but it allows those who want to get in but don't want to find someone to imitate and fawn over. After all, it is easier to deal with Prince De's house. After building a good relationship, it will be easier to get through to Haihan. The channel over there.
Of course, if it was just to this extent, even if the people in the capital got the news, they would probably just turn a blind eye and not interfere with the affairs of Prince De's Mansion. After all, the Ming court had already surrendered to Haihan at this time, and there were countless people across the country eager to jump ship to curry favor with the new master. One more and one less Prince De would not affect the overall situation.
But at this juncture, news came out from Jiangnan and Liaodong at the same time that the children of Prince Youde participated in the imperial examination organized by Haihan, and all achieved very outstanding results, and they were only one step away from becoming an official in Haihan. It's fine if Prince De's Palace cooperates with Haihan to do business and make money. After all, people die for money and birds die for food. Moreover, the Ming Dynasty has long stopped the salary of Prince De's Palace, so it is reasonable for people to try to make a living. The Ming court felt a little guilty for letting Prince De's family go.
But Prince De's younger brother went to participate in the imperial examination held by Haihan and also served as an official in Haihan. This was beyond the tolerance limit of the Ming court.
Of course, Mingting could not protest to Haihan about this. Doing so would not achieve any other result than humiliating himself. Therefore, we can only target the direction of sanctions at Prince De's Palace. Since there are people who want to serve as errands for the destruction of their country's enemies, we can only reduce them to civilians first, so that at least a little face of the royal family can be saved.
Of course, Mingting's deeper purpose may be to cut off Haihan's prospects of using Dewang's family in advance. Otherwise, if Haihan continues to support a puppet regime in Shandong that is completely under his control, and uses the emperor to control the princes, then the orthodox royal family in the capital will really be deposed.
Someone sent news to Prince De's Mansion. There is still controversy within the Ming court, so this solution is still in the discussion stage. Naturally, Prince De's Mansion did not dare to neglect this. While sending people to the capital to lobby, he reported this to Chen Yixin and asked for assistance.
Recently, Prince De's Palace heard that Bai Kesi, a senior official of the Executive Committee, was on a northern tour. It was also said that Bai Kesi had already met Zhu Zian in Hangzhou, which was somewhat of a favor. So he quickly sent Huo Mingxian to Qingdao Port to ask for a meeting with Bai Kesi, hoping to win more people here. One point of help.
Although Bai Kesi understood Huo Mingxian's intention, he was not in a hurry to express his position. He couldn't just listen to one side of the story about what was going on at the Prince's Mansion in Jinan. The prudent approach was to wait until he met with Chen Yixin before making a decision on how to deal with it.
"The cooperation between our country and Prince De's Palace has always been in charge of the Northern Region. After I arrive in Dengzhou and meet with Chen Yixin, we will discuss how to help the Palace overcome this difficulty." Bai Kesi gave the explanation in a leisurely manner. reply.
But to the ears of the person involved, this answer probably sounds no different from practicing Tai Chi. Huo Mingxian hurriedly persuaded: "Master Bai, I'm afraid this matter won't wait too long. If the capital makes a decree, it will only take two days to rush it to Jinan Mansion. By then, the matter will be settled and things will be difficult to handle!"
Bai Kesi said: "Since your prince has chosen to cooperate with my country, he shouldn't care about the will of the capital. I don't need to explain this truth, right?"
Of course, Bai Kesi also knew that this kind of reply could not solve the other party's problem, so he immediately continued: "If the capital issued a decree, the palace could not accept it, or let the decree disappear on the way... In short, there are many ways to invalidate the decree. , I think this shouldn’t be a problem. Even if you really decide to cut off the vassal, you still have to give it back in the future.”
(End of chapter)