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, and Jinan Prefecture was inevitably affected. The fields under the name of Dewang Palace 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 palace. If the old Prince De had not arranged for some of his family members to flee when the situation was bad, I am afraid that 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 court can no longer continue to pay salaries to the Prince, and on the other hand, the fields under Prince De's Palace have almost become wasteland, and the harvest is quite meager. Prince De's Palace

It was often necessary to sell off the few remaining possessions in order to make ends meet.

Although it has the name of a royal palace, the standard of living has nothing to do with the status of the 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 royal palace was only

An empty shelf is left.

As long as they can barely survive, Prince De's Palace will probably not give up the dignity of being a descendant of the royal family and choose to cooperate with Haihan. Of course, Prince De's Palace also understands that what Haihan values ​​​​is not the talent of the Prince's children, but Germany.

The crumbling sign of the Royal Palace, 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 fallen into disrepair, allowing the Prince's Palace to regain its former glory.

At the same time, Prince De's Mansion obtained the operating rights for most Haihan products in Shandong and North China. A large amount of goods were transported to Jinan Prefecture via land and Yellow River shipping, and then sold to surrounding places through Prince De's Mansion.

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 before you can 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,

But 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, Dewangfu's re-emergence was astonishingly fast, and he became an admired prince and nobleman again in just a few months. The officials, merchants and gentry in Shandong seemed to have suddenly remembered the tradition with Dewangfu.

Friendship, for a time the palace was bustling with people.

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

It explains 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 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 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 the whole country

There are countless people who are eager to change jobs to curry favor with the new master. One more person and one less person in the De Palace will 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. 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 court has already stopped the salary of Prince De’s Palace, so it is reasonable for people to try to make a living. The Ming court treats Germany

The prince's indulgence is somewhat tinged with guilt.

But Prince De's brother went to participate in the imperial examinations held by Haihan and wanted to serve as an official in Haihan. This was beyond the tolerance limit of the Ming court.

Of course, the Ming Dynasty could not protest to Haihan about this. Doing so would not achieve any other result than humiliating itself. Therefore, it could only target the Prince De's Palace with sanctions. Since some people wanted to serve as errands for the destruction of their country's enemies.

, then we can only reduce them to civilians first, so that at least a little face of the royal family can be saved.

Of course, the Ming court's deeper purpose may be to cut off Haihan's prospects of using Dewang's line in advance. Otherwise, Haihan will support a puppet regime in Shandong that is completely under its control, and use the emperor to control the princes.

Then the orthodox royal family in the capital will become the real targets of being deposed.

Someone sent news to Prince De's Palace. There is still controversy within the Ming court, so this solution is still in the discussion stage. Naturally, Prince De's Palace did not dare to neglect this. While sending people to the capital to lobby, he reported this to Chen Yixin.

Requesting assistance.

Recently, Prince De's Mansion heard that Bai Kesi, a senior official of the Executive Committee, was on a northern tour, and it was 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 the purpose of Huo Mingxian's visit, he was not in a hurry to express his position. He could not accept one side of the story as to what the situation was at Prince Jinan's Mansion. The safe 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 Prince's Palace overcome this difficulty." Bai Kesi gave the explanation in a leisurely manner.

reply.

But to the ears of the person involved, this answer was probably no different from practicing Tai Chi. Huo Mingxian quickly advised: "Master Bai, I'm afraid we won't have to wait too long. If the capital makes a decree, it will be sent to Jinan Prefecture as soon as possible."

It only takes two days, and by then everything is done 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. To put it bluntly, even if we really made the decision to cut down the vassal, we still have to give it back in the future regardless of how we cut it off now.”
Chapter completed!