Xu Guangqi and the others naturally couldn't object to Zhu Youxiao's words. This was His Majesty's decree, and after all this investigation, they had discovered the truth of the matter. These people really deserved this fate.
Seeing that Xu Guangqi and the others had no objections, Zhu Youxiao said, "Go ahead and do it yourself."
Xu Guangqi and others nodded, then turned and left.
Although His Majesty had previously asked them to meet Zhang Shun, His Majesty did not mention this matter now, and they did not want to bring it up on their own initiative.
After Xu Guangqi and his men left, Zhu Youxiao said to Chen Hong, "Ask Xu Xianchun to bring Zhang Shun here."
"Yes, Your Majesty." Chen Hong quickly agreed, then ran out to find Xu Xianchun.
It didn't take long for the person to be brought up.
At this time, Zhang Shun had long lost his original energy and spirit, and he was extremely depressed. He knew that he was finished and no one could save him this time.
Upon seeing Zhu Youxiao, Zhang Shun immediately prostrated himself on the ground and said directly, "I, the guilty minister Zhang Shun, pay my respects to Your Majesty."
Zhu Youxiao glanced at Zhang Shun without saying anything. He just picked up the tea and took a sip before saying, "Since you claim to be a guilty minister, then confess all your crimes."
Zhang Shun quickly said, "Your Majesty, this has already been reported to Lord Xu Xianchun."
After hearing this, Zhu Youxiao smiled and said, "You are quite proactive."
As he spoke, Zhu Youxiao put down the teacup in his hand, raised his head and said to Xu Xianchun, "Do you have a confession?"
"Your Majesty, I have brought them all." Xu Xianchun quickly agreed and presented the confession in his hand.
After Zhu Youxiao took the confession, he quickly flipped through it and then a thoughtful expression appeared on his face.
Looking at Zhang Shun kneeling on the ground, Zhu Youxiao said coldly: "Why do I feel that you are shirking responsibility?"
"Your Majesty, at this point, I know my sins are grave. How could I dare to deceive Your Majesty?" Zhang Shun quickly defended himself, "I'm telling the truth."
"But according to what you said above, the officialdom in Shandong seems to no longer be under the jurisdiction of our Ming Dynasty." Zhu Youxiao said slowly.
"Shandong is naturally under the jurisdiction of the Ming Dynasty, but this is the situation in Shandong." Zhang Shun said gritting his teeth.
Zhang Shun knew in his heart that he was telling the truth. At this point, with His Majesty personally here, he couldn't take all the blame on himself.
First, these crimes were not actually committed by me; second, I couldn't bear the responsibility for them. If I really took all the blame on myself, I'm afraid my entire family wouldn't be enough to kill them.
Zhu Youxiao nodded and said, "There are two families in Shandong who have the final say: one is the Prince of Lu, and the other is Qufu. You are really bold to say that."
After saying this, Zhu Youxiao placed the confession on the table beside him.
Zhu Youxiao then looked up at Xu Xianchun and said, "Let Prince Lu come to see you."
The King of Lu was a vassal king with a long lineage. He had many branches entrenched in Shandong. It could be said that he was deeply rooted. He was also a very large family and very wealthy.
The first generation King Luhuang Zhu Tan was the tenth son of Taizu.
He was born in the third year of Hongwu and was granted a title after being two months old. In the eighteenth year, he was appointed as the governor of Yanzhou. He was fond of literature and etiquette, good at poetry, and took gold and stone medicines, which poisoned his eyes and the emperor hated him. He died in the twenty-second year and was posthumously named "Huang".
From this posthumous title, we can tell what kind of person the King of Lu was.
The Prince of Lu of this generation was Zhu Shouyong, the Prince of Lu Su, the fourth son of Zhu Yitan.
The Prince of Lu before him was Zhu Shouyong's third brother, and the one before his third brother was his second brother. As for Zhu Shouyong's eldest brother, he died earlier than his father.
The second and third brothers had no offspring, so the throne of Prince Lu had always been inherited by the brothers. However, the lineage of Prince Lu was much more powerful than that of Prince Fu.
Before leaving the capital, Zhu Youxiao checked the documents of the Ming Dynasty royal family. He was shocked to find that the royal family of the Ming Dynasty was so fertile that Zhu Youxiao felt a chill.
Not to mention others, King Qingcheng had more than a hundred sons and countless daughters.
With the rapid increase in the population of the royal family, the total amount of salaries received by the royal family became huge, and the total amount of rice allocated far exceeded the annual grain supply to the capital from all over the country.
The country also bore a heavy burden because of this. For example, Shanxi's local fiscal revenue was 1.52 million dan, while the annual salary consumed by the Shanxi princes was 3.12 million dan.
Henan's annual fiscal revenue was 840,000 dan, while the amount required to provide for the prince was 1,920,000 dan;
Seventy percent of the land in the prefectures and counties near Chengdu was under the name of the royal palace.
As long as there is a vassal king in a province, there will not be enough food in the province, the people will not have enough to eat, and all the land will belong to these vassal kings.
The most important thing is not these princes, but their children.
According to the Ming Dynasty system, the emperor's son was granted the title of prince and was given a golden book and a golden seal; the eldest son of the prince, when he reached the age of ten, was granted a golden book and a golden seal and was named the crown prince; the eldest grandson was named the crown prince and his crown and clothes were of the first rank.
When the sons were ten years old, they were given gold and silver books and silver treasures, and were granted the title of Prince of a County; the eldest son was the eldest son of a Prince of a County; the eldest grandson was the eldest grandson, and his crown and clothes were of the second rank.
His sons were granted the title of General Zhenguo; his grandson was General Fuguo; his great-grandson was General Fengguo; his fourth-generation grandson was Lieutenant Zhenguo; his fifth-generation grandson was Lieutenant Fuguo; and all generations below the sixth were Lieutenants Fengguo.
Not to mention other things, the number of Fengguo Lieutenants and Fuguo Lieutenants in the Ming Dynasty was large enough, and these people received a large amount of rice from the court every month.
If it were just that, it would be fine, but these people also embezzled large amounts of local funds to maintain their luxurious lifestyle.
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