As Zhang Xianzhong fled into the mountains and Li Zicheng fled back to Guanzhong, the Ming Dynasty was temporarily stabilized.
Chongzhen knew that all this was just an appearance, and neither he nor the Ming Dynasty could relax.
If he lets his guard down, his enemies will stab him in the back.
Who are the enemies?
Chongzhen pointed his finger and said to himself, "First, there are the two thieves Li and Zhang, and then there are the bandits, big and small. There are also corrupt officials, gentry, landlords, etc."
"No!" Chongzhen suddenly raised his head and remembered a very tricky thing.
Lord of the vassal!
Thinking of this, Chongzhen shouted to Wang Chengen: "Send an order to have the Minister of Rites and the Minister of Revenue come to the Palace of Heavenly Purity. Oh, and tell Fan Jingwen to bring the jade disc."
He had always wanted to rectify the problem of vassal kings, but was forced to postpone it for various reasons.
Now is the time to put this matter on the table.
The richest people in the Ming Dynasty were indeed the princes, especially representative figures such as the Prince of Fu and the Prince of Shu.
Their wealth can be described as being rich enough to rival a country.
But such people are a minority after all, and many members of the royal family are not wealthy.
Were there many princes and royal family members in the Ming Dynasty?
There are many, but not many of them receive royal family salaries.
The thing used to register the household registration of princes and royal family members in the Ming Dynasty was called a jade disc. If one wanted to receive salary from the princes and royal family, he or she had to report the household registration to the court. After verification, the court would register it and pay the salary on time.
In the eighth year of Jiajing, the total population of Yudie was 8,203.
In the 22nd year of Wanli, the population registered by Yudie was 100,300, but the actual number of people was more than 62,000.
The number of people registered in the jade discs in the 32nd year of Wanli was about 130,000, but the actual number of people in existence was more than 80,000.
(The data for the 22nd and 33rd years of the Wanli reign come from Xu Guangqi's "Discussion on Dealing with the Imperial Clan Salaries and Checking Border Pay". The data is also supported by the "Records of Emperor Shenzong of the Ming Dynasty". In the 40th year of the Wanli reign, Ye Xianggao wrote: In the 33rd year of the Wanli reign, the total number of imperial clan members in the jade discs was more than 157,000...)
Data for the Tianqi and Chongzhen years are unavailable, but the total number should not exceed 300,000.
Don't underestimate these hundreds of thousands of people; they receive annual salaries as high as five or six million taels.
These five or six million taels of silver were the amounts "optimized" by the imperial court.
There were indeed capable people among the civil officials of the Ming Dynasty. At first, 70% of the salaries of princes and clans were given in kind (usually rice), and 30% were in cash.
During the Chenghua and Hongzhi periods, in order to reduce the burden on the imperial court, the salaries of princes and clans were changed to 50% in kind and 50% in cash.
During the Jiajing period, it was changed again: those with more clan salary received 30% in kind and 70% in paper money, while those with less clan salary received 40% in kind and 60% in paper money.
During the Wanli reign, the system changed the salary of princes and clansmen to 20% in kind and 80% in cash.
The banknotes here are neither silver nor copper coins, but Ming Dynasty treasure notes.
Yes, the Ming Dynasty treasure notes that are like waste paper.
It was still somewhat useful in the early Ming Dynasty, but in the later period it was too hard even for wiping buttocks.
In addition to paying salaries to princes and royal family members, the imperial court also had various other expenses to pay.
Including but not limited to: the prince's wedding expenses, travel expenses to the fiefdom, repair and reinforcement of the fiefdom city, construction expenses of the royal palace, sacrificial expenses, etc.
Take Prince Fu as an example.
He spent 300,000 taels of silver on his wedding, 500,000 taels of silver on building the Prince Fu's Palace, and was given 40,000 hectares of land as a fief!
Since Henan did not have that much land, Wanli finally rewarded Prince Fu with 20,000 hectares of land.
Of the 20,000 hectares of land, Henan is responsible for 11,210 hectares, Shandong is responsible for 1,280 hectares, and the rest is left to Huguang.
It’s easy to deal with land without an owner, but the land with an owner needs the court to spend money to buy it back and then hand it over to Prince Fu.
That’s not all. The court also had to bear the responsibilities for the royal palace’s corvée labor.
There are bricklayers, musicians, livestock keepers, butchers, ceremonial guards, etc...
These costs add up to a considerable expense.
In fact, the princes and royal family did not make money from the clan salary. After all, it was often in arrears, and each person did not get much money.
They make money by relying on the privileges of being a prince or royal family.
This thing has been useful in every dynasty.
The simplest and most brutal way is to interfere in business.
Although Zhu Yuanzhang issued a clear order prohibiting royal family members from doing business, the royal family's shadow could be seen in various commercial activities in the middle and late Ming Dynasty.
In the fiefdom, they monopolized the sale of salt, tea, wine, and furs...
Prince Fu once petitioned Emperor Wanli for 3,000 yin of Huai salt to sell in his fief. In order to sell the salt at a high price, Prince Fu asked the local government to issue a ban: salt merchants in the fief were not allowed to sell salt from other places, only salt from Prince Fu's palace.
Wanli favored Prince Fu, and not only did he not stop this behavior of exploiting the people and sucking the blood of the court, he also tacitly supported it.
This shows how stupid Emperor Wanli was.
What's even more outrageous is that some members of the royal family colluded with local officials to set up checkpoints along the way and collect tolls, which they called "local tariffs."
These actions not only hurt the people, but also damaged the interests of the court.
Chongzhen couldn't tolerate it!
Two moments later, Fan Jingwen and Fang Yuegong hurried over.
Looking at the way they walked with the wind, Chongzhen knew that these two ministers were very busy.
It's already the end of September.
Fan Jingwen was busy with the preparations for the next spring imperial examination, while Fang Yuegong was busy arranging for government offices in various places to purchase food and fodder and transport them to the border.
After the ceremony, Wang Chengen looked at Fan Jingwen first and said, "Minister Fan, did you bring the jade disc that records the population of the princes and royal family?"
Fan Jingwen coughed lightly and said, "I didn't bring it."
"Hey? You..." Wang Chengen opened his mouth to accuse.
Before he could finish his words, Fan Jingwen said, "There were too many jade butterflies to take with me, so I wrote down the number of them."
Wang Chengen was immediately choked and looked frustrated.
He looked at Fan Jingwen with some annoyance and tried to fight back with words.
But after thinking for a long time, I couldn't find the right words to refute, so I could only glare at the other person helplessly.
In fact, this is Wang Chengen’s own problem.
What Chongzhen meant was that he wanted data, not the so-called jade disc.
Wang Chengen asked the wrong question in his first sentence.
Is Fan Jingwen deliberately causing trouble?
No!
The purpose of his doing this was to tell Chongzhen that Wang Chengen was incompetent and that if there was a suitable candidate, he should be replaced as soon as possible.
A qualified eunuch who holds the pen will not be left speechless when asked questions by cabinet ministers.
Chongzhen would not replace Wang Chengen.
He doesn't need Wang Chengen to have much ability, he just needs him to be loyal enough.
Chongzhen waved his hand and asked Wang Chengen to step behind him.
Wang Chengen is no match for this group of old foxes, so it is up to him, the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, to take action personally.
"Minister Fan, how many people are there in the royal family now?"
"Your Majesty, there are more than 274,000 people registered in the Jade Disc."
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