In the small meeting hall of the Ministry of Household Affairs, Gao Pragmatic, Cheng Wen, and Hu Zhili sat down in order. The fragrant tea had already been served on the pineapple flowerwood coffee table beside the three of them, exuding a refreshing fragrance. Snacks were made into nine-square grid shapes.
On the plate were neatly cut fresh melons and fruits, as well as some melon seeds, candied fruits, halva and other snacks, but none of the three of them had any intention of tasting them now.
Gao Pragmatic smiled and said in a sincere tone: "Young man has little talent and little morals. I am very scared to be in this position. Both of you are senior scholars and have been Cao Cao (another name for the Ministry of Households) for a long time. They are familiar with civil affairs and have outstanding merits."
.In the future, we will work together in the same office, and I hope that you two will not hesitate to give your advice and help the king and the people."
Cheng Wen was the Zuo Shilang, so he spoke first: "Situ has promoted me, but he is just a mediocre person. He has accomplished nothing since he was in charge of the household department. He only obeys the holy will and acts according to the order. He may have done a little or two, but he is ashamed and dare not say anything about it.
"Situ is a man of great talent, literary and military, and now he is in Cao Cao. He is really a blessing to the world. Although his writing is useless, I would like to attach it to Situ Ji." After saying this, he bowed his hand.
Situ, Da Situ, is also the honorific title of the Minister of Household Affairs, which is the same as Si Nong.
Hu Zhili's face was solemn. Seeing Cheng Wen's hand, he also did so, and then said: "Situ is here to relieve the urgent situation of our household department. This year, the overall situation is difficult, and the household department is being chased by various government agencies all day long like debt collection.
When I asked about the money, I was already worried. There was unrest in the local area, and there was a rebellion in the northwest just a few years ago. I received news yesterday that the two kings of Zhou and Lu were quite dissatisfied with the lifting of the vassal ban..."
Seeing that he kept silent when he said this, Gao Pangshi couldn't help but asked, "There are only three of us here. Duke Yazhai might as well say clearly that these two kings are well treated and the issue of opening a vassal will not be of any use to them."
Impact, why are you dissatisfied?"
Although Hu Zhili is from the north and has been an official in the Ministry of Revenue for many years, he is not actually a serious official of the practical school. To a certain extent, he is a neutral school, but his experience as an official in these years has made him obviously inclined towards the practical school.
The policy strategy was not very popular with the Xin School, which was dominated by southern officials, especially Jiangnan officials.
However, a faction is a faction after all, and he is not a member of the Practical School. Some things are not easy to say directly like Cheng Wen. Without Gao Pragmatic's approval, it is naturally difficult to speak.
Now that Gao Pingshi had asked, he no longer hid it and said: "King Zhou and King Lu had no influence at first, but you also know the situation of their two families, Situ. The hereditary tradition has been scattered for two hundred years.
The leaves are extremely broad, even if they are close relatives, there are many. Not to mention that the two princes have many heirs, but it just so happens that the two princes’ favorite sons are not the eldest sons..."
After saying this, Gao Pragmatic understood. He snorted: "You mean they are dissatisfied with the compensation from 'Ai Zi'?"
Hu Zhili smiled, then sighed and nodded: "Actually, this kind of thing is very common even among the people, but when the object is the vassal king, the meaning is completely different."
Gao Pingshi just nodded. Before he could speak, Hu Zhili unexpectedly continued: "And there is something particularly worrying at this time."
"Which point?" Gao pragmatically asked.
Hu Zhili's face suddenly became extremely serious, and he said in a deep voice: "If the beloved son of the vassal king can break the national law, what about the beloved son of the emperor? Now the eldest son of the emperor is slightly frail, but the second son of the emperor is strong
, the mother of the emperor's eldest son cannot be a holy family member, the mother of the emperor's second son..."
Gao Pingshi didn't expect that he would think of this, but after thinking about it, it made some sense. The Ming Dynasty valued the distinction between legitimate sons and concubines, the elder and the younger. Now that the emperor has no legitimate sons, the officials will naturally focus on the elder and younger.
Different from the above, as long as there is something, they will think about it, at least they must care much more about it than Gao Pragmatic.
After all, Gao Pragmatic is a time traveler. Most of his peers at that time were only children. Secondly, even if there were two brothers in the family, as long as the parents were a little more open-minded, they would try their best to insist on "a bowl of water should be balanced" in life. Why?
It is said that the difference will not be as big as that of the Ming Dynasty.
How big is the difference between Ming Dynasty and Ming Dynasty? It is almost a zero-sum game: I am the eldest son, all inheritance rights belong to me, and you younger brothers have almost nothing.
If I am happy, I will leak a little bit to you through my fingers; if I am not happy, you can expect nothing except the demotion and clan salary prescribed by the court.
However, this system of the eldest son inheriting everything is artificially stipulated. This so-called ancestral rule does not represent the preference of the person concerned. This is probably the case for the kings of Zhou and Lu, for example.
If parents, like later generations, "have no choice", then that's fine. Now, not only do they have choices, there are many to choose from, so they will naturally favor their favorite son. Even if he is not the eldest son, according to the original choice
In this way, they will definitely find ways to give more wealth to their beloved son in advance to prevent him from "suffering" in the future.
But now Gao pragmatism doesn't play this game with them. In "In order to relieve the people's poverty and enrich the country, please use relatives and clans to open feudal bans", Gao pragmatism almost
Limit everything.
I will not discuss the "reasonable" part of his memorial for the moment, but let's just say that the first solution he proposed was to limit the title of nobility.
"It was found that the people in Jiajing requested to implement the method of limiting children, but the Shimiao did not agree. The minister said that there is no need to limit the life, but the title can be limited. In the past two hundred years of the current dynasty, the family has discussed it, and it has also been reduced.
For the first time, the prince was granted the title of a prince as usual, and after the third generation, more details were discussed, and the titles granted by the successive dynasties should be set as restrictions.
For example, the eldest son of a prince can be granted the title of prince, and the second son of a legitimate concubine can be granted the title of four, making a total of five. The eldest son of a prince of a county can be granted the title of a prince, and the second son of a legitimate concubine can be granted the title of a total of three.
If a general has a legitimate son, he is allowed to confer the title to two of them. If there is no legitimate son, only a concubine is allowed to be conferred. A lieutenant serving as a lieutenant, regardless of the concubine, is allowed to confer one son. If there are children with the above titles, there are too many to be conferred.
Just ask for your name as usual.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Those who are aspiring to be scholars will be admitted to the school together with the handsome young people of the people. Those who should be admitted to the first class will be banned from serving as officials, just like the case of the prince. Other industries such as Litian, General Industry, etc. will be from
It's physiologically acceptable, but if you consider that you can't make a living due to your strength, it's better to provide them with money.
The son of a prince cannot be granted the title, and when he reaches the age of sixteen, he will be given a crown and belt, and will be given six hundred taels of silver.
Those who are willing to enter school will be given clothes and scarves, and two hundred taels of silver will be given to each son. If he is an official or not, there is no risk of losing his place.
If there are wandering and useless people among them, it will be like having unscrupulous sons in the family, and nothing can be done about it.
…
We also heard that today's poor sects are lazy, their servants do everything, they serve anonymously, and they are willing to beat Chu. If they appear to be among the Jin gentry, they will all be promoted and impeached by the public, and the four people will be divided into industries, and they will be treated according to the laws of the city officials.
, this great and righteous way, how can it be insulted!"
Here, he clearly proposed "limiting the seal", and it was precisely because of the restriction that "funding" was needed.
However, Gao pragmatic originally thought that the "restricted seal" he proposed was actually quite lenient. For example, the kings of Zhou and Lu were both princes. According to his "Forbidden Rules on the Opening of a Feud", "If the eldest son of a prince can attack the prince, the legitimate eldest son will attack the prince."
The second son of the concubine is allowed to grant four titles, making a total of five."
You have been demoted to four other "loved sons" except the eldest son. Why are you still not satisfied? Are you just like giving birth to dozens of piglets?
However, Hu Zhili told him: I'm sorry, I really gave birth to dozens...
Damn it!
Gao Pragmatic couldn't help but roll his eyes, and wanted to say: "You fucking guys are sitting at home every day, are you really just focused on getting women?"
But after thinking about it, I decided to forget it.
Judging from the current situation of the Ming Dynasty, if a prince really just "sits at home and fucks with women every day", then he is not only not bad, but can even be called a virtuous king. Because it is more unworthy than this.
There are many princes who are ten times worse.
What kind of hell is this world... Well, why didn't I travel through time and become a wise king? As a result, every day now I am thinking about how to improve this country, but this country is not mine...
Ahem, I'm sorry. My consciousness has declined. It's my fault. I'm going to reflect on myself.
However, Gao Pragmatic thought for a while and shook his head: "Prince Yuzi has been conferred four titles. He is already a favor of the emperor. The country can only bear this much... What channel was used to let the capital know about the matter of King Zhou and King Lu?
of?"
Hu Zhili looked slightly relieved. Although Gao Pragmatic did not express his opinion on the issue of "the emperor's beloved son", he insisted on his previous restriction strategy, which clearly supported his own opinion in practice, that is, "irrespective of elder and younger" was not allowed.
.
Faced with Gao Pragmatic's inquiry, Hu Zhili replied: "The sources of dissatisfaction between the two kings are different. It is said that the news about King Zhou came from the eunuch guarding Henan. It should have gone directly to the palace, but for some reason, it was leaked.
It was so popular that even I had heard about it. The source of the news about King Lu was the Shandong Police Patrol. The police officer happened to be in Yanzhou at the time and found out that King Lu was drunk in the palace a few days ago and said something... not good.
if."
Gao Pingshi's eyes narrowed when he heard that, and he asked calmly: "Oh? What did Lu Fan say?"
He asked "quietly", but after all, he was a military commander who had led troops to fight so many great victories, and he had an evil aura brought from the military. Under this gaze, even if Hu Zhili had a clear conscience, he couldn't help but feel
I felt a chill in my heart, as if a sharp knife had suddenly stabbed my chest.
Not to mention Hu Zhili, who was facing him, even Cheng Wen, who was watching from one side, felt his scalp numb, his back was chilly, and he didn't dare to breathe.
After the rebellion in the northwest was put down, Gao Pragmatism, who has been called "the best literary commander in the world" by some good people in Beijing, has gradually developed his prestige, and even his colleagues in the ministry no longer dare to attack him directly.
After calming down, Hu Zhili said: "Well... Lu Fan was drunk at the time..."
"I just asked him what he said." Gao pragmatically stretched out his hand to stop him and said, with no smile on his face.
"Ahem!" Hu Zhili sighed and said, "Lu Fan said at the time: 'The only reason for the failure of Qing Fan is that he didn't have a good talk with Kuai Bai'."
Gao Jingshi sneered: "Oh? Lu Fan is very insightful. He thinks that Qing Fan should have a good talk with Kuai Bai, and then the two of them will use each other. He borrows his name from Kuai Bai, and Kuai Bai borrows troops from him.
Are they going to join forces to fight against the imperial court? Good, very good, it seems that Lu Fan has made a plan and plans to have a fight like this?"
Hu Zhili was a little embarrassed and explained: "I'm afraid it's just nonsense after drinking. The Shandong patrol has already reported it. Yan Lufan has done nothing else. He has never seen any outsiders, especially the Shandong general soldiers and other officials."
The generals of the guards. As for the number of guards in his palace, they are also limited to the number approved by the court. Not only are they not in excess, they are even short of more than thirty."
Gao pragmatically snorted: "Why is the general guarding Shandong not stationed in Jinan but in Yanzhou? I hope Lu Fan has a clear enough understanding of this."
Hu Zhili smiled bitterly and said, "I only hope so."
Gao pragmatic thought for a while and asked again: "Does the emperor know these two things?"
Hu Zhili said: "You should already know."
"What's the decree?"
"Not yet."
Gao pragmatic frowned slightly, thought for a moment, nodded and said: "This matter will be discussed at the headquarters meeting, and the King of Zhou only needs to give a lecture. Although Lu Fan's nonsense after drinking does not need to be taken seriously, as a prince of the imperial court,
If you speak without reason, it not only involves government affairs, but also involves rebellion, which is worthy of being demoted."
Not only was Hu Zhili taken aback by this, but Cheng Wen was also taken aback and hurriedly said, "Situ, wait a minute."
Gao Pragmatic looked at Cheng Wen and waited for his next words. Cheng Wen coughed lightly and said with a wry smile: "I can naturally understand the reason for Situ's move. However, the imperial court has always been generous to the vassals. This lineage of King Lu is from the beginning of the country.
The title has been loyal throughout the ages, and Lu Fan himself also has a good reputation..."
Gao Pragmatic couldn't help but be startled: "He also has a good reputation?"
This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! Cheng Wendao: "Yes, Lu Fan had filial piety when he was young. After taking the title, he donated his residence at Zhongtian Lake to support the poor. He also resigned from Changlu and distributed it to the poor clan. Since Jiajing
, since Longqing, three generations of emperors have given him seals and letters in recognition of his hard work."
This is a new thing, and Gao Pragmatic can't help but be a little surprised. He usually doesn't care much about the specific performance of these vassal kings. Anyway, in his eyes, most of them are not good. He didn't expect that Lu Fan, who was drunk and talking nonsense, could actually
It's really a wise act.
Gao Pingshi recalled it carefully, and remembered that His Royal Highness King Lu seemed to be quite old. It was unlikely that he had any real thoughts of rebellion. Maybe it was just because of the quarrel over the feuding of his sons and the downgrading of the feudal clan.
It made him feel unhappy, and then he made a drunken gaffe and revealed some of his inner thoughts.
Such words will not matter in future generations. It is worthy of being detained. However, the ancients did not have the habit of "not being punished for their words." After all, the ancients paid attention to "words and deeds." If they said something well, they would be praised generously, so if it is not said well,
Of course he will be punished for it.
But since the Lu vassal has done nothing wrong in the decades since he was granted the title, and has even been commended several times, it is not good for Gao Pragmatism because he occasionally made a drunken slip and insisted on asking the emperor to demote him by one rank——
This is really a bit harsh.
So he shook his head slightly and said, "In that case, I'll let it go this time and ask the emperor to issue an edict to rebuke him."
Cheng Wen and Hu Zhili both breathed a sigh of relief, but unexpectedly Gao Pragmatic said: "By the way, the Ministry of Revenue has temporarily withheld all the salaries of the Lu vassal clan this year and told them to pay them next year. If they are not convinced,
He said it was what Honbu-do meant. Hmm, Honbu-do would like to see if these people dare to dance with me."
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