The Prosperous Era of Longwan

The weather has entered winter, and the capital has become increasingly cold. Wei Guangde put on the cotton-padded clothes made by his wife early and went to the palace and government offices step by step every day.

That day Wei Guangde walked into Prince Yu's Mansion, and when he saw Yin Shizhen, he saw Yin Shizhen saying to him with a happy face: "Shandai, I just received news that the censor Lin Run has captured Yan Shifan.

do you know? When they caught him, he was taking his things and preparing to flee to Guangdong. Lin Yushi was alert and sent people to ambush all the exits around Yuanzhou Mansion in advance, otherwise he might be told to run away. "

"Oh, that's how it is."

Wei Guangde was slightly stunned. If what Yin Shizhen said was true, then his previous statement that Yan Shifan deliberately lured Nan Guan into impeachment so that he could return to the capital in an upright and fair manner must be wrong.

But it doesn't matter. King Yu hates this person. No matter whether he does it intentionally or not, Yan Shifan will not escape death in the end when he enters the capital this time.

Thinking of this, Wei Guangde couldn't help but think of what he had mentioned to Gao Gong before. He didn't know if Gao Gong would take action under Jiangxi's notification and completely cut off Yan Shifan's chance of making a comeback.

"Not long after, Yushi Lin will escort Yan Shifan to the capital. I heard that when Yushi Lin went to arrest Yan Shifan, everyone was shocked outside the Yan Mansion. That house was built, tsk tsk."

Yin Shizhen was still talking happily, and his happiness was beyond words.

"Have you told His Highness? He should be very happy when he hears the news."

Wei Guangde smiled and said to Yin Shizhen.

"Li Fang has already gone to inform him, but wasn't this already expected? Prince Yu's excitement must have passed."

Yin Shi said with joy and joy.

"I received news yesterday that the Hanlin Academy asked us to return to the academy tomorrow. Does Brother Zhengfu know why?"

Wei Guangde suddenly thought of the news that Lu Bu had told him yesterday. All the Hanlins in the capital were going to meet with their ministries. Even those who were already working part-time in various yamen must be present.

"The "Regulations on Suspensions and Vassals" edited by Li Chunfang and Li Shangshu has been basically completed. It will be revised by the Ministry of Rites together with everyone in the Hanlin Academy, and then it will be submitted to His Majesty for review."

Yin Shizhen really knew what Wei Guangde said.

"Is it because of Lumi?"

Of course Wei Guangde had the impression that in the past two years, due to the issue of clan Lumi, there have been more or less troubles in the state capitals with the residences of feudal princes.

The reason for this was naturally that he saw that the imperial court was interested in resolving the arrears of Lumi, and was afraid that he would get less. Therefore, instead of being grateful because the imperial court favored distributing Lumi to the middle and lower clans, he intensified the trouble.

The purpose is to get the attention of the court and solve more problems for them.

"When Lin Run was still in the Imperial Procuratorate in the capital, he showed me his vassal memorial. I thought it was pretty good at the time, but I didn't expect it would cause so much trouble later on. It can be said that things in the world are unpredictable."

Wei Guangde couldn't help but sigh.

It can only be that the issue of sects and vassals in the Ming Dynasty is a muddy pond. Anyone who falls into it will be covered in mud. It is really not allowed to mess with it.

"The seven suggestions given by Zhu Muxi, King of the Southern Tomb of the Zhou Dynasty in response to His Majesty's imperial edict, are good. I heard that all of them were included in this "Regulations" by Li Shangshu.

As a county king, King Nanling was able to take the initiative to make suggestions for the court and actively promote the reform of the imperial clan system. This is really remarkable. "

Yin Shizhen talked about what happened half a year ago.

After Lin Run's memorial was sent to Xiyuan, Emperor Jiajing asked the Zongren Mansion to contact the vassals from all over the country and let them express their opinions and work together to find a solution.

But at the beginning, the princes and princes from all over the country remained silent. After all, they all understood what it meant. If they wanted to reduce the welfare of their clans, they were naturally unwilling to say anything.

That is to say, it was Nanling King Zhu Mukai who finally took the initiative, and then other vassal princes' palaces began to respond. The suggestions made were good and bad, but it depends on how the Ministry of Rites and the Hanlin Academy screen and decide.

After all, they have the right to speak, and whether they implement it depends on the court's wishes.

"Let the vassal vassal participate in the subject selection. I don't know if your majesty will pass it in the end."

Wei Guangde knew that the seven suggestions put forward by Nanling King Zhu Muwei were a bit exaggerated and flashy, but the one about allowing the clan to participate in the imperial examination and become officials was a bit interesting.

At least, it opens up an idea, that is, members of the clan do not need to stick to the "ancestral precepts" and can engage in farming, business and officialdom, just like ordinary people.

But what it looks like now is that the clan can't do anything, but in fact it's doing everything, but it's just under the name of its servants.

The seven suggestions put forward by Nanling King Zhu Mukai are: first, please establish a sect to promote moral education;

The second is to set up subject selection to encourage talents;

The third is to strictly protect the survey and prevent abuse;

The fourth is to strictly protect the survey and prevent abuse;

The fifth is to exercise discipline to quell gluttony;

The sixth system is to worship and sweep to reflect broad filial piety;

The seventh is to establish a worry system to save salary and expenses.

"Then let's take a look at the regulations compiled by Li Shangshu tomorrow."

Wei Guangde didn't want to get involved in clan affairs for the time being, so what he said was naturally a bit perfunctory. He had thought of it before, and he didn't know whether he thought of it or whether later generations had seen articles about clan clans in the Ming Dynasty, so he thought of a quota method.

That is to say, the total number of Lumi for each clan is fixed, and then the Lumi is divided equally according to head count and title.

In this way, no matter how the clan reproduces, the total amount of Lumi that the court needs to bear will not change.

However, if this strategy is really implemented, I am afraid that the clans will have a huge quarrel, and I don’t know if it will cause clans from all over the country to collectively riot again.

In any reform, there will always be people whose interests will be harmed, and they will inevitably be resistance to the reform.

Facing the clan, especially the upper-level clans, Wei Guangde does not dare to arm-wrestle with them now.

Regardless of the fact that princes and princes in various places have little rights and are suppressed by local officials everywhere, it still depends on what happened.

It's easy to say whether the government will take action or not, but if they don't take action, they will directly complain to the emperor. In order to maintain family harmony, the emperor will take action on civil servants like him if he has no choice but to take action.

After all, the emperor is actually the patriarch of the clan, so he naturally has to speak for his clan members.

These are not what Wei Guangde can see, but are things that all civil servants can see. Therefore, the previous reforms to the clan regulations were actually mostly targeted at the middle and lower clans, such as the princes and county kings. That is absolutely No one dares to touch their welfare.

After all, once you do it, the consequences will be unpredictable.

The next day, Wei Guangde entered the Hanlin Academy and saw that senior officials from the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Personnel were actually here. After all, people like Li Chunfang, Yan Ne, Dong Fen, and Gao Gong were all Hanlin bachelors. It was no wonder that the Ministry of Rites and the Hanlin Academy were Discuss together.

In fact, Yuan Wei also holds the title of bachelor of the Hanlin Academy, but he is the only bachelor of the Ming Dynasty cabinet, so naturally it is not convenient for him to attend.

However, Li Chunfang's first draft had already been placed on his and Xu Jie's desks.

There were no copy machines these days, so everything had to be copied manually. There were only a dozen copies of the "Regulations" copied by the scribes of the Ministry of Rites, so it was naturally impossible to have one copy per person.

However, it was still roughly divided. At least the bachelor, the bachelor, and the lecturer all had a share. As for Zhang Juzheng and Wei Guangde, there were also ministers and lecturers, and they all sat down and watched silently.

Others can only wait, or based on the terms to be discussed that will be discussed later, they will have a rough idea of ​​what is going on.

It should be said that the "Regulations on Suspensions and Vassals" compiled by Li Chunfang was essentially a small change, or patch, to the "Ancestor Instructions of the Emperor Ming Dynasty" issued by Zhu Yuanzhang that year.

In the twenty-eighth year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, promulgated the "Ancestor Instructions of the Emperor Ming Dynasty", setting down hard-to-reach rules for future generations.

The enfeoffment of kings is an important part of Zhu Yuanzhang's political design, so there is a lot of content about vassal kings in "Huang Ming Ancestor Instructions". In fact, it mainly involves the enfeoffment and inheritance of titles and the legal privileges of the clan that are different from civilians, ministers and even relatives.

When Zhu Yuanzhang formulated the "Ancestral Instructions", because the founding of the Ming Dynasty was too short, many existing problems did not break out, especially the clan inheritance and subsequent problems. To put it bluntly, even Zhu Yuanzhang did not expect that the clan population would have a population boom during the Jiajing Dynasty. explode.

This time, the "Regulations on Suspensions and Vassals" have changed most of the problematic items and are more detailed. Naturally, they are also targeted at restrictions.

There are a total of 67 detailed rules in the "Regulations on the Vassal Regulations" compiled by Li Chunfang. Wei Guangde knew that Li Chunfang had the same concerns as him after just a quick glance, so there were only 4 regulations in the "Regulations" involving the prince himself.

They are: No. 5: "In-laws grant the title", No. 7: "The prince seizes the title", No. 25: "The prince cuts the title", and No. 32: "Please grant the title to the biological mother."

Among them, Article 7 "Prince's Enemyment" involves the interests of the prince, which stipulates that the prince who should be ennobled must wait until he has served and is old enough to apply for the title. He is not allowed to invoke the special cases of previous years and serve as a beggar.

Preventing the prince from prematurely seizing the title and receiving annual salary was actually done during the Zhengde period, but it was not disclosed on paper. Now Li Chunfang is directly on the front desk.

The restrictions on the county and king level are also extremely limited, with only a few restrictions.

The remaining dozens of articles were targeted at the middle and lower-level clans, from generals to lieutenants.

In the Ming Dynasty, the royal family was divided into eight levels: prince, county prince, general of Zhenguo, general of auxiliary state, general of Fengguo, lieutenant of Zhenguo, lieutenant of auxiliary state and lieutenant of Fengguo. The king level is naturally the upper-level clan, and the general level is the middle level. The lieutenants are at the bottom, and they are also the group that has been most deprived of their benefits this time.

When Wei Guangde saw Article 51, he couldn't help but sit up straight.

Article 51: "Stop payment of wages". According to the regulations, from now on, the princes, generals, lieutenants, and lords of counties will be exempted from the price of houses, crowns, clothes, and tombs. This time, the princes were not omitted.

Think about it, the prince's palace was built by the imperial court a long time ago, while the prince, general, and lieutenant need to build new ones, and the local government will bear the corresponding labor costs.

However, this expenditure is actually affordable for the county king, but it is difficult for the generals and lieutenants below.

In the past, after they were canonized, the government would prepare houses and uniforms of corresponding levels. This was a huge expense, and some clans would be displaced if they did so.

Thinking of this, Wei Guangde raised his head and glanced at Li Chunfang above. At this time, he was talking to Yan Ne and Gao Gong next to him, perhaps explaining some of the provisions.

It seemed that it was the first time that Gao Gong and others had seen the complete "Regulations on the Vassals", but they didn't know where their doubts came from.

However, based on Wei Guangde's view of everyone here, or the entire civil servant group, there is a high probability that no one will be dissatisfied with the "Regulations", which mostly target middle- and lower-class clans.

Being born into a royal family, if you are in the upper class, it is okay, but if you are in the middle or lower class, it is really a bit miserable.

Wei Guangde didn't pay too much attention to the discussions in the Imperial Academy, so he just came here for a discussion. He sat with his friends who were in the same year as the Imperial Academy, shared the copy in his hand with them, and unknowingly spent a whole day.

When it was time to leave office, everyone had the same attitude towards getting off work, which was to be on time.

After all, the results of this matter cannot be discussed in a day or two. Many people have to go back and think about it before putting forward their own opinions.

However, when Wei Guangde was about to leave the Hanlin Academy, he was stopped by Gao Gong from behind.

"Shaloan, take a slow step, and let's walk together for a while."

Wei Guangde really didn't want to have contact with Gao Gong today, for no other reason. At noon, he heard someone spreading the news intentionally or unintentionally that the Ministry of Rites had received the news from the Chief of Prince Jing's Mansion in Luzhou, Huguang'an, saying that Prince Jing was ill and had been spread all over the country. Asking the famous doctors around for diagnosis and treatment would not help, so he wrote to the capital to ask the capital to send an imperial doctor.

Although the time was a bit tight, Wei Guangde still suspected that this matter might be Gao Gong's handiwork based on his intuition. He should have understood that the last obstacle to King Yu's accession to the throne still existed.

Although Xiyuan's current attitude does not seem to pose a threat to King Yu, it is possible after all.

The Ministry of Rites is the link between the imperial court and the vassals. In the past, it was through the Zongren Mansion, but now the Zongren Mansion has long been placed under the Ministry of Rites, and now it is under the control of Gao Gong.

"Prince Jing's body seems to be difficult to survive. According to what I read in the text sent by Prince Jing's Mansion, His Highness Prince Jing's illness this time is very dangerous."

In Gao Gong's sedan chair, Gao Gong whispered to Wei Guangde.

By this time, it would be really stupid if Wei Guangde didn't react.

He thought that he was the only one who thought of King Jing's threat to King Yu, but he didn't see that Gao Gong had actually laid chess pieces around King Jing early, but he just kept silent.

This time, I am afraid that I am also intimidated by Yan Shifan's reputation and have to use hidden chess pieces to completely cut off his thoughts.

Are you planning to put the hat on yourself if something unexpected happens?

Wei Guangde suddenly became alert. He would not accept this casually.

"His Royal Highness Prince Jing is ill. His Royal Highness Prince Yu will be very sad if he knows it. But has the memorial been sent to Xiyuan?"

Wei Guangde replied casually.

"Of course, the Zongren Mansion did not dare to delay for a moment after receiving the news, and directly handed it over to the cabinet for disposal."

Gao Gong also answered casually.

"That's good. It's best to make preparations for arranging the imperial doctor in advance. Once the decree comes, you have to rush to Anlu without stopping."

Wei Guangde turned his head and looked at Gao Gong and said.

"Shan Loi should know that Yan Shifan has been locked up."

"Have heard a little bit."

"Over at the Criminal Department, Prince Yu has asked you to pay more attention. You must not neglect this matter."

"Brother Suqing, I actually think Mr. Xu Ge is the safest to deal with this matter. He and Yan Shifan have worked together for more than ten years, and Shandao only lasts a few years."

In the sedan, Wei Guangde and Gao Gong talked about Yan Shifan, their words were very relaxed, as if the overall situation had been decided and victory was certain.