"It would be best if the three guards of each vassal state were returned to the imperial court. After all, they were all rewards bestowed upon the vassal state by Emperor Taizu, and they originally belonged to the imperial court."
"I, your humble servant, would like to set an example for all the other vassal states by returning the three guards to the imperial court today!"
The ministers, princes, and envoys present looked at each other in bewilderment.
There's a traitor among us!
But under Yan Jiaoran's majestic gaze, he had to nod in agreement and dared not speak.
Yan Tongxiu's sons also came out to express their agreement.
Anyway, it is useless for them to have soldiers and horses, so they might as well give them up to save themselves the trouble and become a peaceful prince, living a life of idleness and waiting for death.
With the support of these people, the matter was naturally finalized.
What remained was to convey the imperial edict to the remaining princes who were far away from Jingzhou and could not attend the court meetings.
The ministers just watched silently.
Obviously, these were planned long ago.
They all agreed to strip the princes of their military power.
But what exactly is this empress up to?
Aren’t you afraid of angering those vassal kings far away on the border?
Each of them is strong and ambitious.
This time it’s not like the Enfeoffment Order.
This is to take the lifeblood of all the princes in the world!
They will definitely rebel!
It is easy to add icing on the cake, but difficult to provide timely assistance!
You have to invest well.
Yan Jiaoran didn't know what the princes were thinking, she just nodded with satisfaction.
Things went quite smoothly, just as planned in the palace.
So she took out another memorial from her sleeve.
Said: "In this case, we are one family, so we should keep our differences."
"Since the vassal states have returned the three guards, I must also express my gratitude."
"I've thought about it and come up with an idea. Let me tell you about it."
"Of course, these things are not finalized yet and can still be discussed."
Afterwards, Yan Jiaoran personally announced the plan to reduce the ranks of the royal family, cut their salaries by one third, and distribute a "year-end reward" of one million shi to all the princes at the end of this year.
As soon as these words were spoken, the princes' eyes turned red almost instantly!
One million stones!
You have to know that the annual salary of a vassal king is "only" 8,000 shi, which is already a huge number.
One million shi is equivalent to one year’s tax revenue for the Sichuan-Shu region, known as the “Land of Abundance”!
Although the empress reduced their salaries by one third, she gave them an astronomical gift!
And the voices of opposition immediately emerged fiercely.
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