At this moment, there was another movement in the box next door, as if the people inside had left the box and left.
Maybe the servants in the box over there also heard some noises in the box over here and knew that someone was asking about the feudal king's clan affairs. In order to avoid trouble, they persuaded the son of King Zhou to leave.
Zhong Jinwei heard the commotion, thought for a while, and looked at Si Xiaodao: "Dingguo, go and ask the person who just spoke, what is it about this play that makes him feel bad?"
After giving the instructions, he said to Li Laosi: "Follow Dingguo. If he has nothing to do, don't move forward."
Finally, he turned back and faced Wang Peng and said: "A child from Dingguo is not an official, so he shouldn't have violated the laws of the court?"
In fact, as far as Wang Peng was concerned, it was best for Li Dingguo not to go. But looking at the expression on the face of Marquis Zhongxing, he had made up his mind to ask clearly. In desperation, Wang Peng had no choice but to nod and said: "Okay."
When Li Dingguo saw that Wang Peng agreed, he stood up from the stool with a bang and ran out, thinking of catching up with the man.
Li Laosi quickly chased after him. Under the guidance of his companion at the door, he and Li Dingguo went after the son of King Zhou.
After Zhong Jinwei saw them going out, he explained to Wang Peng: "The Prince of Zhou is good at music and drama. Since the people of the Prince of Zhou said so, it should make sense. It would be best if we can make improvements after asking clearly."
Everyone had already chased them out. What else could Wang Peng say? He could only nod his head and said: "The Marquis is right."
After Zhong Jinwei finished explaining the matter, he said to Wang Peng: "As for the clan affairs, you can continue to tell me."
"Yes, Lord Marquis." Wang Peng agreed, but suddenly thought of something, and asked the two guards to stay in the box next door to prevent the partition wall from having ears.
Then he continued to explain the clan of the Ming Dynasty to Zhong Jinwei: "The restrictions on the clan were mainly for the officialdom at first, but other benefits were very generous. Not only did the vassal king have a lifelong salary, but the treatment was also very generous. The annual salary alone was one meter.
Xiang, that is, up to 50,000 shi, fifty times that of a first-class minister. In addition, there are also expenses for canonization, palaces, marriages, funerals, etc., and are given to kitchen servants, restaurant staff, layout and other miscellaneous workers..."
"Wait a minute, since you said the treatment is so good, why did you just say that many middle and lower clans were reduced to poverty, and what happened to the beggar clan in the Big Asphalt Castle?" Zhong Jinwei was surprised when he heard this, and interrupted.
Wang Peng's explanation.
Wang Peng laughed after hearing this and said, "Master Hou, don't be impatient. I will explain it to you in detail later."
When Zhong Jinwei heard this, he felt impatient. He nodded a little sheepishly and listened to Wang Peng's details.
"In the last years of Hongwu, Taizu reduced the salary of the vassal king to 10,000 shi, which is still the case today. In addition, the salary of the county prince is 2,000 shi, the general of Zhenguo is 1,000 shi, the general of auxiliary country is 800 shi, and the general of Fengguo is 600 shi.
, the lieutenant of Zhenguo is paid four hundred dan, the lieutenant of auxiliary country is paid 200 dan. Princess Lumi is paid 2,000 dan..."
While Zhong Jinwei listened to Wang Peng's explanation of salary, he secretly calculated in his mind. A magistrate in the Ming Dynasty only had ninety shi per year, and the lowest level of this clan only had two hundred shi, which means that the two magistrates combined could not even equal the salary.
The salary of a clan of the lowest rank.
After Wang Peng finished talking about the specific treatment of each level of the clan, he thought about answering Zhong Jinwei's question, and then continued: "Since Chenghua, the clan's population has increased day by day. When there is a year of decline, the tax is often insufficient, and the prince and below have to reduce it by half.
This is for Lumi..."
Hearing this, Zhong Jinwei thought that the halved lumi should be higher than the county magistrate, so how could he become a beggar? He frowned, but still didn't understand.
Seeing Zhong Jinwei's expression, Wang Peng knew that Zhongxing Hou still didn't understand, so he elaborated: "During the Jiajing period, Lin Run, the imperial censor, compared the annual grain for the capital with the royal family's expenditure on rice. The result shocked the world."
"Oh, what's the comparison result?" Zhong Jinwei heard this strangely and asked quickly.
"The world supplies the capital with four million shi of food every year, but the government expenditures on rice are as much as 8.53 million shi. In Henan, the grain reserves are only 840,000 shi, but the clan's rice expenditure is as much as 8.53 million shi.
1.92 million stones."
Dongchang is worthy of being selected from the elite guards. Wang Peng, who is good at martial arts, remembers these numbers so clearly, which is considered very powerful.
"Then how did the court solve the problem?" Zhong Jinwei asked.
Wang Peng smiled at Zhong Jinwei and said: "Master Hou, this is the question you asked before. The method is that the imperial court will not pay the clan salary in arrears. To be honest, it is really impossible to pay."
Zhong Jinwei sorted out the relationship based on what Wang Peng said: The Ming Dynasty had so many restrictions on clans. If you have nothing to do, you can only do that thing. Once you do that thing, the population will multiply quickly. When there are more clans, the burden on the court will be heavy, and the burden on the court will be heavy.
In turn, they were in arrears with their clan salaries. This is the current situation of the clan in the Ming Dynasty.
Suddenly he realized that something seemed wrong, and asked Wang Peng: "According to what you said, since the imperial court defaulted on payment, wouldn't it have any impact on the middle and upper clans besides the middle and lower clans becoming poor?"
Wang Peng nodded when he heard this, then shook his head and said: "Yes, but you can also say no."
Zhong Jinwei was surprised and asked Wang Peng, "How do you say that?"
"The income of the middle and upper clans, especially the vassal kings in various places, is not just like the salary of the middle and lower clans. The main income of the lords in various places is the village fields, official stores and salt shops under their names. Therefore, although there are arrears of salary
, but it has little impact on them.”
Zhong Jinwei watched Wang Peng answer for a long time, then invited him to sit at the table and poured him a cup of tea himself to moisten his throat.
"Thank you, Lord Marquis." Wang Peng thanked him and drank it all in one gulp.
Zhong Jinwei poured him another glass, and then asked: "How much property do these vassal kings have in their land? Without thousands of stones and rice, it will not have much impact on them?"
After Wang Peng drank the tea poured by the Marquis himself, he talked more enthusiastically. He nodded and said: "Master Hou, I will tell you about the property of King Zhou of Kaifeng Mansion. This Kaifeng Mansion has at least more than half of it."
The fields nominally belong to the Zhou Palace, and there are also many shops and the like."
When Zhong Jinwei heard that more than half of the fields in Kaifeng Prefecture belonged to one person, the concentration of the land was really high. But Zhong Jinwei immediately discovered a doubt in Wang Peng's words and asked: "What do you mean by nominal?"
?”
Wang Peng secretly admired Zhong Jinwei's attentiveness. He nodded and explained to Zhong Jinwei: "It means that part of the land under the name of the King of Zhou is managed by the local government. You only need to pay a certain amount of tax to the King of Zhou's Mansion every year."
Zhong Jinwei was confused and asked Wang Peng, "What do you mean?"
"There is a big difference between the king of Zhou's property being managed by the local government and the direct management of the king's palace. The local government has the final say on how much tax money is deducted from the property under management every year, or how much tax money is paid, and how much is owed in arrears.
, the palace has nothing to do with them."
As soon as Wang Peng finished speaking, Zhong Jinwei exclaimed: "They are so bold, how can they still be justified in defaulting on their arrears?" The voice was a little loud, and the three children sitting next to him were startled and looked at Zhong Jinwei.
Wang Peng didn't have a good impression of those civil servants either. Seeing that the Marquis of Zhongxing was so surprised, he explained: "Master Marquis, you can default on the court's taxes, how can you still be afraid of the palace?"
Zhong Jinwei heard what Wang Peng said and thought to himself, the palace of the Ming Dynasty was like a tiger without its claws, or not even a tiger. Who else would the civil servants bully if they didn't bully them?
While Zhong Jinwei was deep in thought, Wang Peng picked up the tea cup and drank it all in one gulp. Then he poured himself another cup. Seeing that Zhong Jinwei was still thinking, Wang Peng said, "Master Marquis, no matter what, the palace has enough fields.
And whether it is the fields under their direct control or the fields in name, the court does not collect taxes."
Zhong Jinwei focused his attention back on Wang Peng and said in summary: "In other words, there are more and more clan lords, and the burden on the court is getting heavier and heavier. The more clan property, the less the court's income?"
"You can say that." Wang Peng nodded.
Zhong Jinwei didn't need Wang Peng to confirm, he already had the answer in his mind. He looked at the empty stage, was silent for a while, and then said to himself: "It's all caused by the hereditary system. If we want to revive the Ming Dynasty, we must
We have to solve the clan problem!"
Wang Peng heard it, but he acted as if he had not heard it. This topic was not something he could express an opinion on. The three children next to him listened in a daze and could not express their opinions, so the box fell silent.
At this moment, there were rapid footsteps outside, and then Li Dingguo's voice was heard: "Master Hou, I want to ask the reason!"
When Zhong Jinwei heard this, he thought that the play was really flawed!