Chapter 2820
The administrative seat of Laizhou Prefecture is located in Ye County, so Laizhou City is also called Ye City. For this reason, the scale of this seaside town is much larger than that of ordinary county towns.
Compared with Dengzhou City, Laizhou City probably lacks a water city adjacent to the main city. There are four gates in the southeast, northwest, Qingcheng, Jingyang, Wuding and Dinghai. There are towers on the gates. Each gate There is also an urn city outside, with crenellations, piers, and turrets on the wall. There is also a bell tower and drum tower in the center of the city for commanding troop mobilization. The Nanyang River is introduced outside the city, and there is a protective trench surrounding the city. It flows into Laizhou Bay in the northwest direction of the city.
However, when Haihan captured Laizhou City, he didn't expend much effort. He didn't even start a decent siege battle. The defenders in the city opened the door and surrendered.
This is because the Qing army raided parts of Shandong at that time, and hundreds of thousands of refugees from Qingzhou and Jinan poured into Laizhou. And the local area cannot bear such pressure. Starvation is everywhere inside and outside the city, food and grass are unsustainable, and it is already on the verge of collapse.
At that time, there were only two options in front of Laizhou City officials. One was to surrender to Kaicheng and accept relief from the Haihan Army, so that everyone could survive; the other was to close the city and defend it, waiting for a mutiny to occur in the city, or a naval attack. The Han army broke into the city with force.
In the end, local officials chose to compromise in the face of reality, thus avoiding a meaningless war. Therefore, compared with the Dengzhou city defenses that have not been fully restored to this day, the city defenses here appear to be very complete, basically retaining their appearance during the reign of the Ming Dynasty.
The former Laizhou Government Office in the city, now the office of the Laizhou Management Committee, was the meeting place for Chen Yixin, Bai Kesi and the people from Jinan.
Waiting for them in the room was a chubby middle-aged man. When he saw Chen Yixin, he immediately stood up and greeted: "General Chen!"
It was obvious that this was not the first time Chen Yixin met him. He held up his hands with a smile and said, "Long time no see, Your Majesty. How are you?"
The man who came to Laizhou City to meet Chen Yixin secretly was none other than the current German King Zhu Youli. Although Bai Kesi's previous statement was very clear, he still wanted to communicate face to face out of careful consideration, so he chose to take action in person.
Chen Yixin then introduced Bai Kesi to Zhu Youli. After the two met, Bai Kesi took the initiative to ask: "If the prince leaves Jinan Mansion at this time, will it attract the attention of interested people?"
Zhu Youli said: "I am not afraid of the jokes of you two. I left Jinan Mansion this time. In fact, I traveled secretly and did not disclose my whereabouts to the public."
The Ming court did not want to see local vassal forces like Prince De's Mansion cooperating with Haihan, so it spread the word and prepared to suppress it. At this juncture, Zhu Youli naturally did not dare to leave Jinan Mansion in a big way. He first left the city in the name of inspecting the countryside and stayed in a farmhouse before leaving quietly at night. The outside world thought he was still in Jinan, but they didn't know that he had secretly come to Laizhou City to meet with Haihan executives.
Chen Yixin and Bai Kesi looked at each other, both thinking of the same thing. The dignified King of Virtue has to hide his whereabouts when entering and exiting Jinan Mansion, which shows that he is indeed under considerable pressure.
Chen Yixin asked: "Do the local officials still dare to restrict the prince from going out?" Zhu Youli said: "I can't say restrictions, but my every move in Shandong will be reported to the capital, which will inevitably lead to others being found out. It's better to do less than to do more. For one thing, it’s better to be careful.”
The cooperation between Prince De's Palace and Haihan has undoubtedly attracted the attention of the Ming court, so the resulting surveillance measures are reasonable. It's just that as a hereditary vassal king, not only did he not have freedom of speech and behavior in the fiefdom, but he also had to be under surveillance at all times. This treatment was really a bit oppressive.
Of course, these surveillance measures are nothing compared to the suppressive actions the Ming court is planning to take against Prince De's palace. If not, Zhu Youli, the king of virtue, would not have played the trick of a golden cicada escaping from its shell and went to Laizhou in person to meet with senior officials of Haihan.
Zhu Youli continued: "According to the information I heard from people in the capital, the matter of reducing the vassal state has been discussed by the imperial court, and it is very likely that it will eventually be accomplished. Once the decree is sent out from the capital, you can make any changes if you want. It’s difficult. The situation is urgent and I don’t dare to wait and see any longer, so I came to Laizhou to ask for your advice.”
Zhu Youli's words were very straightforward. He wanted Haihan to help him. Otherwise, if the title of vassal king was really canceled by the Ming court, it would not only be the people in Prince De's palace who would suffer, but Haihan would also suffer a certain amount. Influence. At least most of the various plans made around Prince De's Mansion before this, as well as the resources that had been invested in them, had come to nothing.
It was not uncommon for the kings of the Ming Dynasty to cut down the vassal kings, and they once even caused chaos in the world. During the reign of Emperor Jianwen, among the emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, the fifth Zhou king Zhu Zhu, the seventh Qi king Zhu Shu, the thirteenth king Zhu Gui, and the eighteenth Min king Zhu Zhen were successively deposed as commoners, and the eleventh Xiang Wang Zhubai burned himself to death, and when he finally cut the head of the fourth king of Yan, Zhu Di, a resistance was finally aroused. The two sides fought for four years. In the end, Zhu Di dragged his nephew Zhu Yunwen off the throne and became the emperor himself.
This was undoubtedly a bad start for the Ming Dynasty's inheritance system of ruling power. From then on, in order to prevent someone from following Zhu Di's method and launching a "Jingnan", most of the subsequent generations of emperors would deal with their brothers and nephews who had real power after they ascended the throne. Carry out vassal reduction, especially strict restrictions on the size of its armed forces.
During the Chenghua period, Emperor Xianzong of the Ming Dynasty granted his eldest brother Zhu Jianlin the title of the first German king. Originally, the fiefdom was Dezhou, but because Dezhou was too barren, he finally settled in Jinan Prefecture. At that time, the number of armed guards assigned to King De was 600 captains, 1,000 sergeants, and 100 personal guards, for a total of 1,700 people. The annual salary is three thousand shi and ten thousand guan. This has also become the standard allocation for the vassal kings in the future. The scale cannot be higher than this level.
Forty years later, Zhu Houzhao, Emperor Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty, succeeded to the throne. In terms of seniority, Zhu Houzhao was Zhu Jianlin's great-nephew, but he showed no mercy to his great-uncle. After he ascended the throne, he issued an edict stipulating that all fields under King De's name must be taxed to the local government at the rate of three cents of silver per mu per year. Calculated, the tax amounted to more than 4,000 taels of silver per year.
This tax standard has been implemented ever since. By the time Zhu Youqi succeeded to the throne, most of the fields under the name of Prince De were abandoned due to natural and man-made disasters, and the harvest was not enough to feed himself. How could he afford to pay so much tax. And the so-called 1,700-strong bodyguard can no longer be maintained now, leaving only one establishment. In the entire Prince De's residence, there were less than a hundred people including servants and coachmen.
Of course, if Prince De's palace hadn't declined to this point, Zhu Youli probably wouldn't have thought of taking refuge in Haihan.
(End of chapter)