The Prince De's Mansion in the south of Jinan City has numerous terraces, eaves and brackets.
There were many vassal kings in the Ming Dynasty. The emperor of the Ming Dynasty registered his sons as princes and granted them all over the country. These princes and grandchildren were passed down from generation to generation, forming major vassal kings in the country. There were three princes in Shandong, namely King De of Jinan.
, King Lu of Yanzhou and King Heng of Qingzhou.
Dewang is located in Jinan, the capital of Shandong Province, and is the most influential. Dewang Castle is located in the north of Jinan City, facing south. The city is 2 feet and 9 feet high. The front part of the city imitates the Forbidden City and has three main halls. The front is called Chengyun, the middle is called Wan Hall, and the back is called
Cunxin. From the three main halls to the Chengyun Gate in the middle of the royal city, there are a total of 138 houses. Behind the palace are the front, middle and back palaces. There are 99 houses on both sides of the palace gate. Outside the royal city, there are supporting buildings.
There are more than 800 palaces and rooms in the entire royal city.
Since the Jingnan incident when Emperor Yongle rebelled, the vassal princes of the Ming Dynasty no longer have military power and the power to manage local areas. But even so, the prince still has a very high political and economic status. Economically, the clan relies on its own status to operate.
Industry, and even monopolize important commodities in a place. Politically, even governors and prefects do not dare to offend the clan. If there are conflicts between princes and local officials, the officials involved are often transferred to other places.
Therefore, at the local level, local officials held the vassal kings in high esteem. Some officials would even fawn over the vassal kings and clans as a means of political support.
This time, Wang Yongji, the governor of Shandong, approached three vassal kings in Shandong, hoping to use his identity as a vassal king to solve this problem that troubled him and resist the increasingly fierce offensive of Li Zhi, the Duke of Jin.
In the Chengyun Hall of King De's Royal City, Wang Yongji and the civil servants from the Shandong Chengxuan Envoy Department and the Punishment and Prosecution Envoy Department stood under the throne and bowed with their hands in hand.
Zhu Youshu, the king of virtue, was a slightly fat middle-aged man with a medium build and a long beard. He sat on a throne decorated with red paint and golden dragons. After listening to Wang Yongji's words, he stroked his beard and asked: "What do you mean by the governor?
Are we asking King De, King Lu and King Heng of Shandong to join forces to run a newspaper to compete with Tianjin Daily of Duke Guo of Jin?"
Zhu Youshu stroked his beard and said: "I have printed some ancient books over the years and accumulated some literary reputation in Shandong. But running a newspaper requires too much energy, so I have not considered it."
Among the clans of the Ming Dynasty, there were many people who had nothing to do every day with their salaries, but there were also some clans who were unwilling to do so and turned to study culture. Shandong is the hometown of saints and a place where culture flourishes. The three princes of Shandong are all very active in cultural undertakings.
Enthusiastic and close contacts with scholars.
The three vassal kings all had "publishing houses" for publishing books in their royal cities. Prince Lu's Mansion had Minxue Academy, Chengxun Academy, and Sanweitang. Prince De's Mansion had Zuilexuan. Prince Heng's Mansion had Houde Hall. The three vassals
The books published by Wang spread throughout Shandong Province and even reached Gyeonggi and Henan.
Zhu Youshu was praised as a virtuous man by Shandong scholars because of his publishing career, and he was usually very proud of it.
Since the German King Zhu Youshu was enthusiastic about publishing, he was naturally very concerned about Li Zhi's newspaper after it entered Shandong. However, "Shandong Daily" represented the voice of Li Zhi, an emerging group, and various views often conflicted with Zhu Youshu's, which made Zhu Youshu uncomfortable.
Very uncomfortable.
Zhu Youshu also hoped that Shandong could have a newspaper to rival Li Zhi's Shandong Daily. Therefore, Zhu Youshu was not particularly surprised when he heard Wang Yongji suggested that he run a newspaper.
Wang Yongji bowed his hands, bowed to Zhu Youshu and said: "Your Majesty, please take a warning! If the three princes cannot stand up and jointly publish a newspaper to fight against Li Zhi, Shandong will be Li Zhi's country within a country in less than three years."
Zhu Youshu was silent.
Wang Yongji cupped his hands and said: "Your Majesty, Li Zhi is very ambitious. He is not satisfied with occupying Tianjin. It will be a matter of time before he reaches Shandong. He spent so much effort to suppress the gentry in Shandong and used the opportunity to send troops to Jinzhou as a bargaining chip.
Is it possible that the emperor's royal guards are killing people just for a newspaper?"
"There is no doubt that what Li Zhi wants is the entire territory of Shandong. He wants to turn Shandong into the second Tianjin."
Zhu Youshu stroked his beard, but still didn't speak.
Wang Yongji said loudly: "Your Majesty, Li Zhi collects business taxes in Tianjin and collects taxes from the gentry. He has no royal laws in his eyes and kills people like crazy. If he controls Shandong province, how can he take the three princes seriously?
?I’m afraid that in less than three years, not only will all the princes’ shops and property have to pay commercial taxes, but all the princes’ farmland will also have to pay land taxes.”
After hearing the words "Zhuang Tian Tian Fu", Zhu Youshu's expression changed and he was already moved.
During the Ming Dynasty, vassal kings in various places owned a huge number of farmlands. These farmlands did not pay land taxes and were managed by local officials on behalf of the lords. The lords were given about one and a half cents to three cents of silver per mu of land every year. Although every mu of land was
The income of the feudal prince may not seem to be much, but the feudal prince's farmland covers an extremely vast area, often hundreds of thousands of acres, so the final calculated income is also very high.
Many of these vassal princes' farms were donated by local common people in order to avoid land taxes. The vassal princes first accepted the donations from the common people, and after accumulating a certain amount, they begged the emperor to open new ones.
Manors, these donated fields were turned into vassal estates, and land taxes were no longer paid.
If Li Zhi collects taxes from the feudal kings' farmland, the income from the feudal kings' farmland will probably drop sharply. The luxurious life of the feudal kings will be greatly affected.
This sharp drop in income is probably intolerable to the kings who are accustomed to a luxurious life.
Zhu Youshu often read Li Zhi's newspapers and knew Li Zhi's style. According to Li Zhi's style, it would be impossible to allow hundreds of thousands of acres of vassal land without paying land taxes. Wang Yongji was right, if Li Zhi's style
In Shandong, the income of the feudal king's farmland will plummet.
Zhu Youshu took a breath, twirled his beard and frowned.
Wang Yongji saw King De's face and knew that King De was tempted. He struck while the iron was hot and said: "King De, now King Lu and King Heng have agreed to jointly run a newspaper. They have already thought of a name, and it will be called "Three Kings Daily".
The Prince of Finances does not need to worry about the personnel needed for the newspaper; all the gentry in Shandong will work together to run this newspaper well."
"Li Zhi used newspapers to pave the way for his business taxes, land taxes and courts, and wanted to take over Shandong. We did the opposite and used newspapers to unite people from all walks of life in Shandong and resolutely shut out Li Zhi's influence.
!”
"King De can save Shandong and prevent Shandong from becoming the second Tianjin by just making a name for himself. If King De is worried about the content of the newspaper, he can send a few people to the newspaper printing office to be reviewers!"
Zhu Youshu stood up and walked back and forth in front of the throne and thought for a long time. In the end, he was still unwilling to give up a lot of farmland income to Li Zhi.
He nodded and said: "Okay, I will work together with the governor to publish this daily report and resolutely prevent Li Zhi from getting involved in Shandong."
