The title of Dashun is very cherished, and the generals who were most instrumental in the founding of the country were only granted the title of duke.
Similarly, princes like Li Dingguo, Liu Wenxiu, and Zheng Zhilong who surrendered several provinces were also granted the title of duke.
As for Wang Jue, apart from the dark history of having Zhang Xianzhong be granted the title of King of Qin during the Taizu period, only Luo Rucai was granted the title of King of Nanyang and Liu Zongmin was granted the title of King of Runan.
However, these two kings are both "prefecture kings", not princes, and they are only posthumous titles, not actual titles.
Today, the only prince in the Dashun Dynasty is actually Li Zicheng's third brother Li Zijing, who is farming in northern Shaanxi. He was named King Zhao and is the only vassal in the Dashun Dynasty.
Li Zijing himself was just an ordinary, illiterate farmer, and Li Laiheng had already ordered a barely luxurious Prince Zhao Mansion to be built for him in Tokyo, and ordered him to live in Beijing.
But Li Zijing was really fertile. He originally had six children, four sons and two daughters. After the founding of the People's Republic of Dashun, Li Zijing relied on his good fortune to marry many more wives and concubines. Today, he actually has ten children.
Three people, a total of seven sons and six daughters.
This is an exaggeration.
In terms of seniority, Li Zijing is Li Laiheng's grandfather.
Moreover, after all, Li Laiheng was only Li Guo's adopted son, and Li Guo was only Li Zicheng's nephew, not his heir. Therefore, in terms of blood relationship, Li Zijing's closeness to Emperor Taizu was not only much higher than that of Li Laiheng, but also higher
At Emperor Taizong.
If we strictly follow the provisions of Zhu Yuanzhang's "Emperor Ming Ancestor Instructions", if the father dies, the son succeeds, the elder brother succeeds the younger brother, then the Dashun world should belong to Zhao Wang Li Zijing, not to the lineage of Li Guo.
Li Zijing himself was illiterate, had no education, no talent, and no ambition.
But his status, as well as his somewhat excessive desire to have children, made Prince Zhao's Mansion gradually become a gathering place for careerists and conspirators.
What's more, even if there weren't these undercurrents of conspiracy behind the scenes.
Li Laiheng found it difficult to handle just the large number of Li Zijing's children.
If the system of the Ming Dynasty were followed, how many princes would be enfeoffed to Li Zijing alone?
Let’s look at Guo Junzhen, Liu Fangliang, Yuan Zongdi, and Gu Kecheng, the heroes of hundreds of battles, but they are just a duke. Even Gao Yigong, who has both the merits of the founding of the country through hundreds of battles and the close blood relationship between his relatives and in-laws, is just a duke.
Just a Duke.
For example, Fang Yiren, Gu Junen and others were all responsible for planning the founding of the Shun Dynasty, but they only had one marquis, not even a duke.
King Zhao Li was self-respecting, had no virtue, no talent, and no merit. He was named the only prince of Dashun just because of his blood relationship. Recently, he did not know who he was instigating, and he repeatedly wrote to the court, claiming that he was old and infirm.
I want to retire and return to my hometown in northern Shaanxi to guard the tomb of Taizu.
It sounds nice, but the purpose is to take this opportunity to ask His Majesty to issue an order. Firstly, Li Zijing's eldest son will inherit the title of King Zhao, and secondly, he hopes that the remaining sons of Li Zijing will also be granted the title of county prince.
.
This is too much.
Li Laiheng's two sons, Li Xuanye and Li Xuanyu, were not crowned kings, so Li Zijing was in a hurry to branch out?
Dashun’s spyurgery system adopts the method of inheritance by reduction. In other words, if each title is not specifically stated to be hereditary for several generations without being downgraded at the time of the title, then it must be downgraded for each generation of inheritance.
First level knighthood.
That is, the eldest son of a prince can only inherit the title of county king when he ascends the title; the eldest son of a duke can only inherit the title of marquis when ascending the title.
Except for the eldest son, no matter whether they are royal princes or meritorious nobles, other sons cannot inherit the title.
Therefore, it was too much for Li Zijing to demand that his eldest son not be demoted to the title of Duke of Zhao, but also hope that Li Laiheng would grant the title of Duke of Prince to his other sons.
Originally, the Great Shun Dynasty did not rule the world with filial piety. From Taizu Taizong to Li Laiheng now, the Shun Dynasty talked about "building up these benevolent and righteous soldiers for a few common people" and ruling the world with benevolence and righteousness.
Therefore, Li Laiheng is not afraid of others criticizing him for being unfilial and criticizing him for punishing the only biological brother left by Taizu. After all, if the royal family is allowed to abuse titles and repeat the mistakes of the Ming Dynasty, it will harm the people endlessly.
The purpose is inconsistent.
Li Laiheng gave a hint, and the ministers of the DPRK and China, led by Fang Yiren, began to launch a crazy attack on Zhao Wang Li Zijing. The Longyi Guards even began to act secretly, with the purpose of investigating.
Who instigated Li Zijing to write such a memorial?
Li Laiheng had some understanding of the behavior of farmers in northern Shaanxi. Although he was not familiar with Li Zijing, he probably knew that Li Zijing was an ordinary farmer.
How could he come up with such a farce if there were no bad guys behind his back?
"This matter must be investigated thoroughly. Who wants to ruin the relationship between my family? Who wants to make me bear the name of unfilial piety? Before the bones of Taizu Taizong were cold, someone taught him how to lift wood. I will punish him severely."
But just as the Longyi Guards were preparing to punish Li Zijing, another major event happened in the palace, which directly cast a new shadow on Shunchu's political situation:
Li Laiheng fell ill.
He caught the cold again and was much more sick than last year. After falling ill, he did not go to court for more than ten days and also suspended his meetings with foreign ministers.
Now that the Northern Expedition was approaching, even an important minister like Fang Yiren, Zaifu, could not see Li Laiheng. After more than half a month passed, everyone became even more worried.
Is there anything wrong with the emperor?
The relationship between the female officials in the inner court and the emperor was closer. Even if Li Laiheng fell ill, it was said that some female officials could go to the study to report recent political affairs to Li Laiheng.
Therefore, Fang Yiren also mobilized his personal connections several times, trying to get in touch with the female officials of the inner court to ask what was going on? The emperor was so ill, what was going on with his body, if anything happened...
If something happens, the situation will be very complicated.
After all, the Li family's royal family is thin, and Li Laiheng's two biological sons, Xuan Ye and Xuan Yu, are still children. The only other branch of the Li family's royal family is the Zhao Wang family.
However, the Zhao royal family had just been violently attacked by the ministers and was also jealous of the emperor. The relationship between the two parties was very bad.
But King Zhao Li Zijing was very old, and there were many adults among his descendants, which was much better than Li Laiheng.
Fang Yiren heard that in recent times, since His Majesty fell ill, many court ministers have begun to come in and out of Prince Zhao's residence.
Their meaning is too obvious.
There is another saying circulating in the court recently: that is, from ancient times, among the founding kings and the second succeeding kings, almost no one can successfully succeed to the throne, but there will definitely be disaster.
After the death of Han Emperor Liu Bang, there was the Zhulu Rebellion. There was also the Xuanwumen Incident between Emperor Gaozu of the Tang Dynasty and Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty. Even if there was no shadow of candlelight between Emperor Taizu of the Song Dynasty and Emperor Taizong of the Song Dynasty, there was still the matter of Song Emperor Taizong forcing Taizu's descendants to death. The previous dynasty, Ming Taizu,
The Jingnan incident after Zu's death devastated the north even more.
Although the name of Emperor Tianfa was inherited, it was actually the creation of it. Could it be that at this time, the Dashun Dynasty would also undergo the changes that had happened in the past dynasties?
Fang Yiren dismissed this statement. He wrote a letter to Yan Xin, the Feilong envoy who was in charge of the affairs of the Longyi Guard's various towns and divisions, asking him to carefully monitor the situation in Prince Zhao's palace, and made preparations to enter the palace in person.
Preparation for meeting the Holy Spirit.
"This King Zhao will not last long." Fang Yiren said coldly, "For the sake of Taizu's bloodline, we can still let his family go to Tianbao Mansion to guard the mausoleum. Speaking of the real Taizu bloodline, we still need to
Look at Princess Huirou.”
Fang Yiren thought for a while, then wrote another letter and asked his family members to send it to the Queen Mother, asking the Queen Mother to strictly protect Li Zicheng's only true bloodline princess Li Huirou.
However, Fang Yiren was worried that if something happened to Li Laiheng's health, what would happen if Empress Dowager Gao hesitated with Li Zijing? So he sent someone to contact Sun Shoufa, who was in charge of palace confinement, and paid attention to protecting Li Huirou and not losing sight of the princess.
.
After doing this, Fang Yiren breathed a sigh of relief. He sighed self-deprecatingly that he had really worked hard for Li Laiheng's family. When he was captured in Yiling, how could he have expected the situation today?
"Why is dad sweating so much?"
Fang Yiren's youngest son was not yet seven years old. He lay on the table and stared straight at Fang Yiren.
Taishi Fang smiled and touched the child's head. This child was baptized by his uncle Fang Yizhi. He is a Christian and also loves to learn physics. He is not a candidate for officialdom. He should study hard in the future.