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In the winter of the 11th year of Chongzhen, the Manchu and Qing armies besieged Jinan. Shandong's envoys, governors and other officials at all levels led Jinan's 500 township warriors and 700 Laizhou reinforcements to defend the city. They were all involved in state affairs.
At that time, more than 200 Hui people and more than 350 scholars who volunteered to defend the city were sacrificed. Civilians were also killed. "More than 130,000 corpses were accumulated in Jinan City", and tens of thousands of women died by throwing themselves into wells and lakes.
The Dewang clan, which had been a worm for more than a hundred years, finally took a stand.
According to the regulations of the imperial court, the vassal king was not allowed to participate in military and political affairs, and he was not allowed to lead troops even if foreign enemies invaded. However, the clan members of King Deok still stepped forward. King Deok opened a warehouse to stock up on grain and encouraged the soldiers. The clan led a guard of honor and a bodyguard to guard the south city.
The king's son-in-law and his family were responsible for guarding the east city. King Ninghai and other members of the clan died in the battle, and King Deok's son-in-law and his family died in the battle. This story is truly heartwarming.
Gui E is not a time traveler and does not know the fate of the Dewang clan. He is very angry at the moment.
In the huge Jinan City, only the residences of the Dewang clan accounted for less than half of the city area (more than half of it by the end of the Ming Dynasty)!
Prince De's Mansion alone accounts for one-third of the city, and there are also the mansions of Prince Tai'an, Prince Dongping and other princes, as well as the mansions of various princesses.
Many shops in the city and many fertile fields outside the city are owned by the Deokwang clan.
The properties run by the deposed King of Qi, King of Han, and the two princes had been nationalized, and were all awarded to his son King De by the Yingzong. The land of the three princes combined, the amount granted by the imperial court alone exceeded 2 million.
The acres spread throughout Jinan and Qingzhou, and now they are all under the name of Dewang’s family!
What is even more frightening is that two consecutive generations of virtuous kings were both known as virtuous kings.
The family spent money to continuously build temples, and the faithful men and women all thought that King Deok was a good person; the family spent money to continue publishing books, and the civil servants also felt that King Deok was a good person. Including the people whose land was annexed, including the laborers who were recruited to build temples, all felt that King Deok was a good person.
I feel that King De is a good person, and the only ones who are bad are the eunuchs and subordinate officials of King De's palace, as well as those corrupt officials.
After walking around Licheng County, Gui E felt his scalp numb and his whole body cold.
"These two virtuous kings have great tricks!" Gui E couldn't help but sigh.
The master's name is Wang Jian, who has been following Guihe for eight years. He was drinking tea and said: "It is very difficult to find out the lineage of King De. From what I have learned from private visits in the past few days, it is nothing more than evil slaves committing crimes, setting up banknotes secretly, and hiding land and population."
That’s all. However, the king of virtue can dismiss these crimes, and at most he will sentence one of his subordinates to be lax."
Gui E said: "It is difficult to start from an ordinary clan. The line of King De has only been passed down to the second generation. There are not many third-generation princes, there are even fewer generals, and there is no lieutenant."
What does it mean?
The lineage of King De has not many descendants, there is no lower-level clan for the time being, and there is not much pressure on local officials to support them.
From the Third Division of Shandong to the officials of Jinan Prefecture, everyone said good things about King De. If the local civil servants did not cooperate, how could the governor investigate?
But it was necessary to check, because King De owned too much land. He did not pay taxes on this land, and the tenant farmers who depended on the land did not perform corvee labor.
A large number of small farmers even voluntarily donated their land and voluntarily became landless tenants for King De. In this way, all they lost was the qualifications for their descendants to take the imperial examination. However, they were protected by King De and did not have to pay poll taxes or be subject to corvee.
The land rent collected by King De was not high, and the tenant farmers lived a more prosperous life than ordinary farmers.
The question is, what to do with the remaining farmers?
The gentry and wealthy households also evaded taxes and evaded labor in various ways, and the King of Germany protected a large number of tenant farmers, while the local poll tax and corvee remained unchanged. It was equivalent to a small group of poor peasants bearing all the poll tax and corvee, selling their children and daughters, and bankrupting their entire family.
There are countless people.
Gui E cannot handle this matter unless all officials from the Shandong Third Division and Jinan Prefecture are replaced!
…
"Replace them all?" The cabinet ministers were shocked.
Wang Yuan said: "I can't change it. I'll go see His Majesty!"
The young emperor trusted Wang Yuan very much and even told the eunuchs and guards that Wang Ge Lao did not need to report in advance when entering the palace.
However, Wang Yuan still abided by the rules and waited for the eunuch to go in and report, and then he was taken to the Yangxin Hall for an audience.
"Your Majesty, please take a look." Wang Yuan presented Gui E's memorial.
Zhu Zaiyi read the content himself and saw that two generations of virtuous kings built bridges and roads, built temples and temples at their own expense, printed books at their own expense, donated food to relieve the people, and only set up banknotes privately, and occasionally officials violated the law and harmed the people. He couldn't help but nodded and said: "
Compared with King Lu, King De can be called a wise king and should be praised and rewarded."
Wang Yuan said: "The number of acres of land awarded to King De by the imperial court has exceeded two million acres. Over the past few decades, farmers have voluntarily donated fields, as well as land that has been annexed by King De due to disasters. It is simply countless. King De
A line of clan is likely to occupy more than 5 million acres of land. How big is the entire Jinan Prefecture? The lower the land rent that King De sets for tenants, the more small farmers will contribute, and the government will not dare to collect taxes. In this way, King De
There are more and more acres of land, more and more hidden people and fertile farmland. It becomes more and more difficult for local officials to collect taxes and levies, and the people at the bottom cannot survive."
Zhu Zaijun was silent.
Wang Yuan added: "In the port over Denglai, there are often ordinary people who have no way to survive, begging on the shore and waiting to take a boat to go to sea to make a living. The people waiting there to go to sea are from the prefectures and counties of Jinan, but they are better than those from Jinan.
There are more in Yanzhou. Your Majesty, the common people will not leave their homeland and go overseas unless it is absolutely necessary. King Lu is tyrannical, but the virtuous king is wise. Why does the wise king force away more people than the violent king? Jinan is rich.
, Yanzhou is barren, why do the people in the rich land want to go to sea more than the people in the barren land? The disaster of King De is worse than that of King Lu!"
Zhu Zaijun was stunned.
Wang Yuan said again: "Jinan is a prefectural city and a provincial city. In a provincial city, Prince De's Palace alone accounts for one-third, and this does not include the prefectures and princes created by King De. King De has only been passed down for two generations.
! If King De's line continues to spread, then a hundred years later, the palace of King De's clan will probably occupy two-thirds of Jinan City. The land owned by King De will probably increase to 10 million acres, and the people will have no choice.
This is the place to stand!"
Zhu Zaijun was shocked.
Wang Yuan continued: "The two generations of King De were both virtuous kings. Even the princess was well-educated and published Buddhist scriptures together with the princess. King De also paid for many times to publish the works of sages from all dynasties in Shandong. Good men and women, officials
They all helped King De to speak for him. If a large number of Shandong officials were not replaced, it would be impossible to attack King De. This King De was a wise man. What about the next one? What about the next one? If there is a King De who extorts excessive taxes, his family will be rich.
With millions of acres of land, it will force many tenant farmer families to die. It is more likely to lead to civil unrest!"
The source of all this is Yingzong. Yingzong liked his son so much that he awarded all the land of the two deposed princes to the first generation of King De.
The first generation of King De was wise. Since he was not short of money or food, he gave preferential treatment to his tenant farmers, which led to more and more farmers joining King De. In addition, Liu Liu and Liu Qi swept through Shandong, and countless people were displaced. King De donated food
Relieve the victims, annex land, and recruit homeless people. In this way, you will become richer and richer, have more and more land, and have a better and better reputation!
Even Wang Yuan had interests involved with King De, because King De sold a large amount of cotton to the Tianjin factory every year, and the management of the Tianjin factory had a close relationship with King De's officials.
After Wang Yuan explained the cause and effect in detail, Zhu Zaiyi said: "Let's investigate the misdeeds of some of the officials of Prince De's palace, and use the excuse of lax control to take back the land that King Qi and King of Han once owned. In this way, King De's millions will be taken away
acres of land!”
"Your Majesty is wise." Wang Yuan cast his eyes approvingly.
For a fifteen-year-old little emperor to be able to come up with such a method quickly, he was already considered to be extremely talented.
Wang Yuan added: "We should also investigate the hidden population and acres. These people and land are all under the protection of King De. If things go on like this, can they still be regarded as subjects of the Ming Dynasty, and can they still be regarded as the territory of the Ming Dynasty? I want to replace the Third Division of Shandong and Jinan Prefecture.
Officials, at least thirty people must be replaced!"
This is equivalent to a direct change of senior officials there.
Zhu Zaiyi carefully thought about the pros and cons, and finally nodded and said: "Yes!"
The chief minister advocated, the emperor approved, and the cabinet was half in agreement and half silent. What else could the six ministries have to say?
Gui E, the governor of Shandong, was transferred to the post of governor of Shandong Zuo.
Zhang Cong, who was in charge of the construction of the railway, was transferred to Shandong as an inspector.
Nie Bao, a member of the railway department, was transferred to Shandong to serve as the prefect of Jinan.
For other officials, they themselves recommend suitable candidates, which makes it easier for them to form teams and work.
After some recommendations, six people from the Railway Department of the Ministry of Industry alone were transferred to Shandong officials, and on average each person was promoted two levels in a row. Even Yang Shen's younger brother Yang Dun, who defected to Wang Yuan on his father's orders, was promoted to Shandong officials early on.
He works for the Railway Department and was transferred to Shandong this time as deputy inspector.
This is the first time that the Railway Department of the Ministry of Industry has been promoted in a big way.
The courtiers could not find fault, because the small railway department was really full of hidden dragons and crouching tigers, with a large number of first-ranked Jinshi and Shujishi.
All civil and military officials realized that when Wang Yuan was in charge of the cabinet, the Railways Department was probably promoted faster than the Hanlin Academy!