Chapter 329: The Lands of the Imperial Clan

Xu Guangqi and the others naturally could not object to Zhu Youxiao's words. This was His Majesty's imperial decree, and besides, after this round of investigation, they had also discovered the truth of the matter—these people truly deserved this fate.

Seeing that Xu Guangqi and the others had no objections, Zhu Youxiao said, "Each of you, go handle your tasks."

Xu Guangqi and the others nodded, then turned and left.

Although His Majesty had previously said they would get to meet Zhang Shun, since His Majesty had not brought it up now, they did not wish to raise it on their own.

After Xu Guangqi and the others had left, Zhu Youxiao said to Chen Hong, "Have Xu Xianchun bring Zhang Shun here."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Chen Hong hurriedly acknowledged, then ran out to find Xu Xianchun.

Before long, the man was brought up.

By now, Zhang Shun had long lost his former vigor and spirit; the whole man was utterly dejected. He also knew he was finished—this time, no one could protect him.

Upon seeing Zhu Youxiao, Zhang Shun hurriedly prostrated himself on the ground and said directly, "Your guilty subject Zhang Shun pays respects to Your Majesty."

Zhu Youxiao glanced at Zhang Shun, said nothing, merely picked up his tea and took a sip, then said, "Since you call yourself a guilty subject, then confess all the crimes you have committed."

Zhang Shun hastily said, "To answer Your Majesty, I have already confessed everything to Lord Xu Xianchun."

Hearing this, Zhu Youxiao smiled and said, "You're quite proactive, aren't you."

As he spoke, Zhu Youxiao set down his teacup, raised his head, and said to Xu Xianchun, "Do you have the confession?"

"To answer Your Majesty, I have brought it all." Xu Xianchun hurriedly acknowledged, simultaneously presenting the written confession he had brought.

Zhu Youxiao took the confession and quickly flipped through it, then a thoughtful expression appeared on his face.

Looking at Zhang Shun kneeling on the ground, Zhu Youxiao said coldly, "I rather think you're trying to shirk responsibility."

"Your Majesty, at this point, your subject knows full well the depth of his sins—how would I dare do such a thing as deceive Your Majesty?" Zhang Shun hastily defended himself. "Everything your subject has said is the truth."

"But according to what you've written here, the officialdom of Shandong seems to no longer be under the rule of my Great Ming." Zhu Youxiao said slowly.

"Shandong is naturally under the rule of Great Ming, but the situation in Shandong is simply as I have described." Zhang Shun said through gritted teeth.

In his heart, Zhang Shun knew very well that what he had said was the truth. Having come to this point today, with His Majesty personally arriving, he could not possibly take all the blame upon himself.

First, these crimes were not truly committed by him; second, these crimes were too heavy for him to bear. If he truly took all the blame upon himself, he feared his entire family would not be enough to execute.

Zhu Youxiao nodded and said, "Shandong is ruled by two houses—one is the Prince of Lu, the other is Qufu. You really dare to say such things."

After saying this, Zhu Youxiao set the confession aside on the table.

Then Zhu Youxiao raised his head, looked at Xu Xianchun, and said, "Have the Prince of Lu come for an audience."

The Prince of Lu—this was also a princely title with a rather long lineage, having branched out into many lines entrenched in Shandong. One could say they were deeply rooted, an extremely vast clan, and very wealthy.

The first Prince of Lu, the Wasteful Prince Zhu Tan, was the tenth son of the Grand Ancestor.

Born in the third year of Hongwu, enfeoffed two months after birth; in the eighteenth year, he took up his fief in Yanzhou. He loved literature and treated scholars with courtesy, excelled at poetry, but ingested alchemical elixirs, which poisoned him and damaged his eyes, earning the Emperor's disgust; he died in the twenty-second year, posthumously titled Wasteful.

From this posthumous title alone, one could see what kind of man this Prince of Lu had been.

The current Prince of Lu was the Solemn Prince Zhu Shouyong, the fourth son of Zhu Yitan.

The Prince of Lu before him had been Zhu Shouyong's third elder brother, and before his third elder brother had been his second elder brother. As for Zhu Shouyong's eldest brother, he had died even earlier than their father.

The second and third elder brothers before him had also left no heirs, so the position of Prince of Lu had been inherited among the brothers. However, the Lu princely line was far more powerful than the Fu princely line.

Before leaving the capital, Zhu Youxiao had examined the genealogical records of the Ming imperial clan. Not looking was one thing—once he looked, he got a shock. The imperial house of Great Ming was simply too prolific at producing children, giving Zhu Youxiao a chilling feeling.

Not to mention others—the Prince of Qingcheng alone had over a hundred sons, and countless daughters.

As the imperial clan population rapidly increased, the total amount of salaries and provisions drawn by the clan was enormous, and the total grain allocated for their stipends far exceeded the annual grain tribute that the entire country's provinces sent to the capital.

The state consequently bore a heavy burden—for example, Shanxi's local fiscal revenue was 1.52 million dan, while the princes of Shanxi consumed 3.12 million dan in annual salaries;

Henan's annual fiscal revenue was 840,000 dan, yet what needed to be supplied to the princes was 1.92 million dan;

Seventy percent of the land in the prefectures and counties around Chengdu was registered under princely mansions.

As long as a province had one enfeoffed prince, then that province's grain would be insufficient, the common people would not have enough to eat, and the land would all end up belonging to these princes.

But the most critical issue was not these princes themselves—it was their children.

By Ming law, an imperial son was enfeoffed as a Prince with a gold register and gold seal; the Prince's eldest legitimate son, upon reaching the age of ten, was given a gold register and gold seal and established as the Prince's heir; the eldest grandson was established as the heir's heir, with ceremonial dress equal to a first-rank official.

Other sons, upon reaching the age of ten, were given gold-plated silver registers and silver seals and enfeoffed as Commandery Princes; the eldest legitimate son of a Commandery Prince became the Commandery Prince's heir; the eldest legitimate grandson was given the title of eldest grandson, with ceremonial dress equal to a second-rank official.

Other sons were given the title of Garrison General; grandsons, Assistant General; great-grandsons, Service General; fourth-generation descendants, Garrison Commandant of the Sixth Rank; fifth-generation descendants, Assistant Commandant of the Sixth Rank; sixth-generation and below were all Service Commandants of the Sixth Rank.

Not to mention anything else—the number of Service Commandants of the Sixth Rank and Assistant Commandants of the Sixth Rank in Great Ming was already vast enough, and every one of these people drew large quantities of grain from the court each month.

If it were only that, it might be tolerable, but these people also massively encroached upon farmland in their localities to maintain their luxurious lifestyles.

They had been passing down their lines for over two hundred years—how many branches had spread out by now?

The land of one province probably would not even be enough to support one line of enfeoffed princes. A well-known example was Shu—the Shu princely line actually occupied nearly seventy percent of the land in Shu. One must remember, that was the Chengdu Plain, a thousand li of fertile fields.

All the common people there were tenants of the Shu Prince's family, and the Shu Prince's luxurious life was obtained entirely by squeezing the people.

Great Ming had in total enfeoffed over sixty Princes and nearly a thousand Commandery Princes.

The most was the Zhou princely mansion, which had enfeoffed seventy-two Commandery Princes; the Lu princely mansion was not that many, having twenty-three Commandery Princes.

These Commandery Princes continuously fathered children, each one splitting off into a great family. By this day, the Zhu descendants of Great Ming numbered over a million.

Zhu Youxiao still remembered the expression on his face and the feeling in his heart when he had seen that number.

After seeing the annual expenses these people required, Zhu Youxiao did not know what to say. He also had to thank the Wanli Emperor of those years, and thank Zhang Juzheng's reforms.

During the Wanli period, because the imperial clan had proliferated too greatly, annual stipends were reduced and inheritance was restricted. A Prince who succeeded from a collateral branch lost the privilege of promoting his other sons.

Those originally Commandery Princes—except for the eldest legitimate son, their remaining sons still inherited the Garrison General title and could not be promoted to Commandery Prince; those Garrison Generals who succeeded—their remaining sons still inherited the Assistant General title. Additionally, the precedent of a Commandery Prince who succeeded also passing on his original commandery title was abolished.

If not for this policy, Great Ming probably would have collapsed long ago.

Now that Zhang Shun had brought up the Prince of Lu—although Zhu Youxiao was intimidating Zhang Shun, he knew in his heart that this really was the truth.

In this place called Shandong, there was a Qufu and a Lu princely mansion—one could imagine what kind of life the people of Shandong lived. One could say they lived in dire straits, in the depths of fire and water.

One should know that the Kong family was not much better than the Lu princely mansion. Although the salary of the Duke Yansheng title was not large, their status was extremely high, and they likewise had swallowed up vast amounts of land—no different from the Lu princely mansion.

The Kong family had particularly many branches, and particularly many family members, and every one of them wanted to live a luxurious life. Under such circumstances, it would be strange if the people of Shandong could live well.

Zhu Youxiao truly did not know what to say. He needed to think of a way to solve this problem. But this problem was simply too big and too difficult—his head ached the whole way and he still could not come up with a solution.

The founding Emperor had over a million descendants—what is to be done with all of them?

Surely they cannot all be exiled to Liaodong?

Or all dismissed from office, investigated, and executed? That cannot be!

You must understand, these people are different from the Prince of Fu. Although the Prince of Fu holds great power and influence, his family has not yet grown large. After all, the time has been short, and there are few people in his household.

Not like the Princes scattered across the provinces—some have been passed down since the founding Emperor's time. How many generations and how many years has that been? By now, it is truly difficult to manage.

And this is only the imperial princes—what about the princesses?

According to Ming regulations: the Emperor's aunts are called Grand Princesses, the Emperor's sisters are called Senior Princesses, and the Emperor's daughters are called Princesses. All are granted golden patents and a stipend of two thousand shi of grain. Their husbands are titled Commandant-Imperial Son-in-law.

Daughters of Princes are called Commandery Princesses, daughters of Commandery Princes are called County Princesses, granddaughters are called Commandery Ladies, great-granddaughters are called County Ladies, and great-great-granddaughters are called Township Ladies. Their husbands are all titled Honorary Consorts.

All of these people must receive stipends, and after their families split apart, they too will oppress the good and swallow up land.

Across the entire Great Ming, how much land is in the hands of the imperial clan?

Add to that the gentry who encroach on land—those like Qufu, or those like Xu Jie—how much land is left for the common people of this realm?

It is no exaggeration to say they do not even have a place to stand a needle.

But for now, I should first meet the Prince of Lu. This affair still needs to be cleaned up—at the very least, make the Prince of Lu contribute some money and grain to relieve the people of Shandong.

As for how exactly to deal with the Prince of Lu, that can be decided after meeting him.

Xu Xianchun, of course, had no idea how complicated Zhu Youxiao's thoughts were. Since the Emperor wanted the Prince of Lu to come for an audience, he quickly said, "Yes, Your Majesty. Your servant will immediately send someone to receive His Highness the Prince of Lu."

"Go on then." Zhu Youxiao nodded and said.

After Xu Xianchun left, Zhu Youxiao slowly rose to his feet. Glancing at Zhang Shun, who was kneeling on the ground, he said coldly, "Take him away."

As for Zhang Shun, Zhu Youxiao truly had no interest in him. The man was merely a Prefect—there was really no need to expend any effort on him, nor was there any need to do anything to him.

He was the Emperor, after all. To quibble with a Prefect would be beneath his dignity.