On the square in front of the Qianqing Palace, the kings of Qin, Jin, Chu and other vassal princes were all looking in the direction of the imperial study.
These people knew very well that the emperor's decision was made in just one or two days. If even the cabinet ministers standing on their side could not persuade the emperor to issue an order to allow them to seal Nanyang, Then they might not even think about having any chance to go to Nanyang.
It is precisely because they know that this matter is related to their future, so even the vassal princes and clansmen who did not take everything to heart in the past are very anxious now.
Time passed little by little. In the past, the important cabinet ministers headed by Wang Yangming would leave early when they entered the imperial study room for discussion. However, this time, Wang Yangming and others were not seen for a long time, which had to make all the vassal princes and clan members have thoughts in their minds.
I don’t know what is going on in the imperial study now, and whether the important cabinet ministers headed by Wang Yangming can convince the emperor.
The King of Jin couldn't help but gritted his teeth and said: "Damn Duke Qin, if he hadn't interfered, His Majesty had already promised us to establish a country in Nanyang. How could he be like now without knowing what the outcome would be!"
"Yes, it's all Li Huan's fault. Don't let me find a chance. If I find a chance, I won't be able to spare him."
King Qin glanced at a few people and sneered: "Okay, what's the use of talking about it now? Don't you know how much Li Huan is trusted by the emperor? If the emperor doesn't agree this time, then we will We are still a group of princes with no real power, let alone revenge on Li Huan, I am afraid that Li Huan will not let us go."
Hearing what King Qin said, many people couldn't help but think of Li Huan's previous impeachment of them.
They knew very well how much fertile land their respective princes had appropriated. It would be fine if they didn't check it on weekdays. If they really did check it, they would really be unable to afford it.
Just as I was thinking about this, I suddenly heard someone exclaim: "Look, everyone, Wang Yangming and the others are coming out!"
After hearing this, everyone raised their heads and looked into the distance. At first glance, they saw a group of people headed by Wang Yangming striding towards them. Along with Wang Yangming, there were also Li Huan and other nobles.
When they came closer, a group of vassal princes and clan members looked at Wang Yangming, with a somewhat searching look in their eyes.
As if he noticed the searching meaning in the eyes of all the feudal princes and clansmen, Wang Yangming stroked his beard and stepped forward with a chuckle and saluted all the feudal princes and clansmen: "Wang is here to congratulate all the princes, congratulations to all the princes!"
Seeing Wang Yangming's reaction, all the vassal kings who were still feeling uneasy were stunned for a moment after hearing Wang Yangming's words, and then they reacted with disbelief on their faces.
Especially the King of Qin and the King of Jin looked at Wang Yangming with a bit of surprise and said tremblingly: "Mr. Wang Ge, can it be said that His Majesty has already agreed?"
Suppressing the excitement in their hearts, all the vassal princes and clan members were in disbelief. You must know that the emperor has not made a decision for a long time, and even Wang Yangming and other pavilion elders have no hope for it. This makes all the vassals Wang Zongqin was affected and thought that it was unlikely that this matter would happen.
However, the surprise came so suddenly. Just when they had almost no hope, Wang Yangming brought them good news.
Under the gaze of all the vassal princes and clan members, Wang Yangming nodded slowly towards the crowd.
Almost instantly, all the vassal princes and clan members were surprised. Some even kowtowed in the direction of the royal study: "Thank you, Your Majesty, Your Majesty is wise!"
Li Huan, who was on the side, seemed to be dissatisfied with seeing all the vassal princes and clan members, so he snorted coldly, turned around and left.
The King of Qin, King Jin and others who had woken up felt greatly emboldened. Looking at Li Huan's angry look, they couldn't help but show excitement on their faces.
Even the King of Chu looked at Li Huan with some disdain and said: "Li Huan, you traitor actually wants to alienate the family relationship between me and His Majesty. You are just a favored minister of His Majesty. If His Majesty trusts you, you
You are a person, if His Majesty doesn't believe in you, then you are nothing."
"Hahaha, we are the nobles of Tianhuang, with the blood of Taizu, and in the future we will be the princes and kings of feudal states. You, Li Huan, are nothing more than a Duke of Heaven!"
Seeing Li Huan's figure disappear into the distance, all the feudal princes and clansmen who had vented their anger couldn't care less about arguing with Li Huan at this time. They were more concerned about how the emperor would arrange them.
At this moment, Wang Yangming chuckled and said: "Your Majesty's decree!"
While he was talking, he saw Wang Yangming holding an imperial edict in his hand, and all the vassal kings were overjoyed to see it and quickly bowed down.
As Wang Yangming read out the emperor's decree to seal all the vassal princes' relatives to Nanyang Province and allow them to establish a kingdom, the hearts of all the vassal princes completely dropped.
It was said that the emperor kept his word, and now that the imperial edict had been issued, they naturally no longer had anything to worry about.
After receiving the imperial edict, a group of vassal kings stood up, then surrounded Wang Yangming and others, asking the court how to arrange them.
Nanyang Province is quite vast. Since the imperial court wants to move them to Nanyang Province, they have to worry about the division of their fiefdoms.
Although Nanyang is said to be rich, even a rich land has its advantages and disadvantages. If the fiefdom given to them by the imperial court is not very good, wouldn't they suffer too much?
The imperial decree makes it very clear that the emperor has handed over the matter to the cabinet, which means that the cabinet ministers will decide the location of their respective fiefdoms. If the relationship between different cabinet ministers is handled well at this time, their reactions will be
It's also too slow.
cabinet
In a spacious hall, a group of cabinet ministers headed by Wang Yangming were sitting. In addition to the cabinet ministers, there were also a number of vassal princes and clan members who had been summoned.
Because there were quite a few vassal princes and clansmen who were eligible to establish a state this time, even this spacious hall seemed a little crowded.
However, what everyone was paying attention to at this moment was not the issue of crowding or not. Instead, their eyes fell on the huge map hanging in the hall.
Thousands of islands, large and small, are densely marked on this map. These islands are large and small. It is a detailed map produced by the imperial court during the past few years to explore the Nanyang Province.
Although there are thousands of islands marked on this map, there are too many islands in the South Seas. These marked islands are not even one-tenth of them. Although this is
The map is not detailed enough, but if it is used to divide the feudal clans among the feudal lords and clans, it is enough.
It can be said that if Wang Yangming and others casually pointed on the map, it might be the future enfeoffment land of a vassal king, so at this time, all the vassal princes and clan members were all looking at the map nervously and concernedly.
Wang Yangming looked at each other with Yang Tinghe, Liu Yu and others. Regarding the enfeoffment of these vassal princes and clans, it seemed that it was allocated by the cabinet, but in fact it was the emperor who really made the decision.
Not long ago, the emperor, including Li Huan, had discussed with the cabinet the whereabouts of these vassal princes' relatives.
There are many islands in Nanyang, it can be said that there are tens of thousands of them, but of these many islands, almost 90% of them are just small desert islands. These desert islands are almost worthless and impossible in this era.
It was used as a place of enfeoffment for a number of vassal kings and clansmen.
The one that can really be used to enfeoff a number of vassal kings and clans must be at least the size of a county, and there must be enough land on the island. Otherwise, if these vassal kings are really enfeoffed, I am afraid that these vassal kings will be taken away.
life.
The imperial court did not want to put these vassal kings to death, but really wanted to use these vassal kings to guard Nanyang Province, use the power of these vassal kings to develop Nanyang, and completely integrate Nanyang land into the Chinese territory.
To develop Nanyang with the power of the imperial court alone, to be honest, the imperial court's finances are sufficient now. Otherwise, the imperial court would really not be able to bear it. Even so, it would take a long time for the imperial court to control Nanyang.
If the power of these vassal princes and clans can be harnessed, it will definitely speed up the process of the imperial court taking control of Nanyang.
After all, although these vassal princes and clans do not have any military or political power, they are all local emperors, and the population they control is a force that cannot be ignored.
The household registrations of these tenants who were attached to the clans of various feudal princes were not even in the hands of the imperial court. In other words, even the imperial court did not know how many tenants there were under each royal family.
The new policy implemented by the imperial court last time, and the inventory of fields and hidden households in the world was indeed very effective. However, for these vassal princes and clansmen, it is really difficult to implement the imperial decrees thoroughly. At least many lords and clansmen did not cooperate openly or covertly.
It was also difficult for local officials who implemented the New Deal to deal with these feudal kings.
After all, it involves the royal family, and these vassal kings will behave like rogues one by one, unless the emperor personally orders an inspection.
Nowadays, once these vassal kings entrust themselves to the land of Nanyang to establish kingdoms, they will definitely bring some of their people to their respective fiefdoms. In fact, this is also encouraged by the imperial court.
As long as these vassal kings have the ability to take people to Nanyang, the imperial court will never stop them.
In the expectation of all the vassal kings, Wang Yangming stood up slowly, glanced at the crowd and said: "Your Majesty, your Majesty trusts you to entrust us with the matter of enfeoffment. Now regarding the enfeoffment of your princes,
We have selected the lands on the map. These are all islands with an area of at least one county. It can be said that as long as the princes can bring the people to the fiefdoms and develop people's livelihood with heart, based on the situation of the princes fiefdoms
, it won’t be long before it looks prosperous.”
"Old Wangge, we already know this, but now everyone is concerned about where our respective fiefdoms are."
One of the vassal kings spoke rather impatiently.
Wang Yangming stroked his beard and chuckled, and nodded slightly to an official beside him. Then he saw the official step forward and presented a silk book to Wang Yangming.
Wang Yangming took the silk book, glanced at everyone before speaking slowly: "The Qin King's fiefdom, Seven Star Island, is located forty miles southeast of Java, with an area of about 50,000 hectares, excluding forests and minerals!"
King Qin couldn't help but frowned when he heard this. The imperial court entrusted him with an independent island. This island had an area of almost 50,000 hectares, which is roughly equivalent to the size of 5 million acres of land. Looking at it this way, this area is already huge.
It is small, and much larger than most county offices in the Central Plains.
However, if you consider the area of an island, and if you put aside the forest land, rocks, ponds, etc., it is good to have two to three million acres of farmland that can actually be cultivated.
If calculated based on the fact that one family owns 30 to 50 acres of land, it can probably support about 100,000 households, which is almost the limit. In other words, one island can have a population of 3.5 million, which is less than one county in the Ming Dynasty.
The population it has is not bad either.
If you calculate it this way, such an island is enough to establish a kingdom. If you don't have any ambitions, a county with hundreds of thousands of people supporting a prince will definitely have a much easier life than in the Central Plains.
King Qin, who had done some work in this area beforehand, had such an idea flash through his mind almost instantly. Without hesitation, he stepped forward and bowed to Wang Yangming and said: "The King of Qin's Mansion will move the people there in the shortest possible time.
Seven Star Island, established a feudal state, and guarded one side for the Ming Dynasty."
Wang Yangming nodded with a smile, his eyes fell on King Jin and he said: "Plum Blossom Island, the fiefdom of King Jin, is located thirty miles northwest of Surabaya. It covers an area of about 70,000 hectares. There are countless peach groves, fertile fields and minerals on the island."
Hearing that the area of the island he had sealed was actually much larger than that of King Qin, King Jin couldn't help but smile on his face, and hurriedly stepped forward and said: "Prince Jin's Mansion will hand over the farmland under the Prince's Mansion to the court as soon as possible, complete the relocation of the people, and provide
I, the Ming Dynasty, guard one side."
As Wang Yangming revealed the fiefdom of a famous vassal king, the islands obtained by these vassal kings may be large or small, but generally speaking, the value of these islands is actually very different. The larger the area, the better the natural conditions.
, there are many mountains and few fertile fields, so under Wang Yangming's explanation, at least some of the vassal kings were quite satisfied with the imperial court's enfeoffment.
Among the relatives of the Ming vassal kings, the most noble ones are naturally the dozens of princes. But in addition to the princes, there are also county princes, generals who govern the country, generals who assist the country, etc., all the way to Lieutenant Fengguo. Even the worst Lieutenant Fengguo is...
With an annual tribute of two hundred stones, the Ming Dynasty clan has multiplied to tens of thousands of people over the past hundred years. You can imagine how much money and food the court spent every year just to support these clans.
In addition to the dozens of princes who spent the most money, the emperor naturally made arrangements for the rest of the clan. The princes under the princes also gave them the right to establish feudal states, but these princes did not have as exclusive rights as the princes.
Instead of the treatment of an island, more than a dozen county princes were allocated the land of an island, and each divided into their own areas. Therefore, only dozens of large and small islands were divided, which solved the problem of the princes.