Chapter 2820

The administrative seat of Laizhou Prefecture is located in Ye County, so Laizhou City is also called Ye City. Because of 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 built on the gates. Each gate

There is also an urn city built outside, with crenellations, piers, and turrets on the city wall. There is also a bell tower and drum tower in the center of the city to direct the mobilization of troops. The Nanyang River is introduced outside the city, and there is a moat surrounding the city, which flows into the northwest direction of the city.

Laizhou Bay.

However, when Haihan captured Laizhou City, he didn't expend much effort. He didn't even start a decent siege, and the defenders in the city surrendered.

This is because at that time, the Qing army raided parts of Shandong, and hundreds of thousands of refugees from Qingzhou and Jinan poured into Laizhou. However, the local area could not bear such pressure. Starvation was everywhere inside and outside the city, and food and grass were difficult to sustain.

It's 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 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 unnecessary war. Therefore, compared with the Dengzhou city defenses that have not been fully restored so far, the city defenses here appear to be very complete, basically retaining the rule of the Ming Dynasty.

The look of the period.

The former Laizhou Government Office in the city, now the office of the Laizhou Administrative Committee, was the meeting place between 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 that Chen Yixin met him. With a smile on his face, he cupped his hands 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, out of careful consideration, he still hoped to communicate in person, so he chose

He took action himself.

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'm 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

He left the city under the pretense of inspecting the countryside, stayed in a farmhouse, and then quietly left the country 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's senior officials.

Chen Yixin and Bai Kesi looked at each other and both thought of the same thing. The dignified King had to hide his whereabouts when entering and exiting Jinan Mansion, which shows that he is indeed under a lot of pressure.

Chen Yixin said: "Do the local officials still dare to restrict the prince from going out?"

Zhu Youli said: "I can't say there are any restrictions, but every move I make in Shandong will be reported to the capital, and people will inevitably find themselves in trouble. It's better to be careful than to do more."

The cooperation between Prince De and Haihan has undoubtedly aroused the attention of the Ming court, so the resulting surveillance measures are reasonable. However, as a hereditary vassal king, not only does he not have freedom of speech and behavior in the fiefdom, but he also has to be on guard at all times.

Being under surveillance, the treatment was really a bit oppressive.

Of course, these surveillance measures are nothing compared to the suppressive actions that the Ming court is planning to take against Prince De's Mansion. Otherwise, Prince De's Zhu Youli would not have played the trick of a golden cicada escaping its shell and personally went to Laizhou to meet with the senior officials of Haihan

meet.

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 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 all the way 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.

Impact. At least before this, the various plans made around Prince De's Mansion, as well as the resources that had been invested in them, had mostly 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 Ming Taizu's disciples, Zhu Xi, the fifth king of Zhou, Zhu Shu, the seventh king of Qi, and

The thirteenth generation king Zhu Gui and the eighteenth generation King Zhu Zhu were deposed as commoners one after another. The eleventh generation king Zhu Bai of Xiang burned himself to death. Finally, when he cut the head of the fourth generation king Zhu Di, resistance was finally aroused and the two sides fought.

After four years, Zhu Di finally dragged his nephew Zhu Yunwen off the throne and became emperor himself.

This was undoubtedly a bad start for the Ming Dynasty's inheritance system of ruling power. After that, 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 Dewang. The fiefdom was originally Dezhou, but because Dezhou was too barren, it was finally settled in Jinan Prefecture. At that time, the size of the armed guards assigned to Dewang was the size of the school.

There are 600 lieutenants, 1,000 sergeants, and 100 personal guards, a total of 1,700 people. The annual salary is 3,000 shi and 10,000 guan. This has also become the standard configuration for subsequent vassals. The scale cannot be higher than this level.

.

Forty years later, Zhu Houzhao, Emperor Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty, succeeded to the throne. Calculated by 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 everything under the name of King De

Land must be taxed to the local government at the rate of three cents of silver per mu per year. This works out to a tax of 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 such a large tax? And the so-called 1,700

Nowadays, we can no longer support human bodyguards, and there is only one establishment left. In the entire Prince De's palace, there are only less than a hundred people including servants and coachmen.

Of course, if Prince De's palace had not declined to this point, Zhu Youli probably would not have thought of seeking refuge with Haihan.
Chapter completed!