Chapter 562 561 Suzerainty Regulations

The weather has entered winter, and the capital has become increasingly cold. Wei Guangde put on the cotton-padded clothes made by his wife early and went to the palace and government offices step by step every day.

That day Wei Guangde walked into Prince Yu's Mansion and when he saw Yin Shizhen, he saw Yin Shizhen saying to him with a happy face: "Shandai, we just received news that the censor Lin Run has captured Yan Shifan.

Do you know? When they caught him, he was taking his things and preparing to flee to Guangdong. Lin Yushi was alert and sent people to ambush all the exits around Yuanzhou Mansion in advance, otherwise he might be told to run away. "

"Oh, that's it."

Wei Guangde was slightly stunned. If what Yin Shizhen said was true, then his previous statement that Yan Shifan deliberately lured Nan Guan into impeachment so that he could return to the capital with integrity must be wrong.

But it doesn't matter. King Yu hates this person. No matter whether he does it intentionally or not, Yan Shifan will not escape death in the end when he enters the capital this time.

Thinking of this, Wei Guangde couldn't help but think of what he had mentioned to Gao Gong before. He didn't know if Gao Gong would take action under Jiangxi's notification and completely cut off Yan Shifan's chance of making a comeback.

"Not long after, Yushi Lin will escort Yan Shifan to the capital. I heard that when Yushi Lin went to arrest Yan Shifan, everyone was shocked outside the Yan Mansion. That house was built, tsk tsk."

Yin Shizhen was still talking happily, and his happiness was beyond words.

"Have you told His Highness? He should be very happy when he hears the news."

Wei Guangde smiled and said to Yin Shizhen.

"Li Fang has already gone to notify him, but wasn't this already expected? Prince Yu's excitement must have passed."

Yin Shi said with joy and joy.

"I received news yesterday that the Hanlin Academy asked us to return to the academy tomorrow. Does Brother Zhengfu know why?"

Wei Guangde suddenly thought of the news that Lu Bu had told him yesterday. All the Hanlins in the capital were going to meet with their ministries. Even those who were already working part-time in various yamen must be present.

"The "Regulations on Suspensions and Vassals" edited by Li Chunfang and Li Shangshu has been basically completed. It will be revised by the Ministry of Rites together with people from the Hanlin Academy, and then it will be submitted to His Majesty for review."

Yin Shizhen really knew what Wei Guangde said.

"Is it because of Lumi?"

Of course Wei Guangde had an impression. In the past two years, due to the issue of clan Lumi, there have been more or less troubles in the state capitals with the residences of feudal princes.

The reason for this was naturally that he saw that the imperial court was interested in resolving the Lumi arrears, and was afraid that he would receive less. Therefore, instead of being grateful because the imperial court favored distributing Lumi to the middle and lower clans, he intensified his troubles.

The reason is that they hope to get the attention of the court and solve more problems for them.

"When Lin Run was still in the Imperial Procuratorate in the capital, he showed me his vassal memorial. I thought it was pretty good at the time, but I didn't expect it would cause so much trouble later on. It can be said that things in the world are unpredictable."

Wei Guangde couldn't help but sigh.

It can only be that the issue of sects and vassals in the Ming Dynasty is a muddy pond. Anyone who falls into it will be covered in mud. It is really not allowed to mess with it.

"The seven suggestions given by Zhu Muxi, King of the Southern Tomb of the Zhou Dynasty in response to His Majesty's imperial edict, are good. I heard that all of them were included in this "Regulations" by Li Shangshu.

As a county king, King Nanling was able to take the initiative to make suggestions for the court and actively promote the reform of the imperial clan system. This is really remarkable. "

Yin Shizhen talked about what happened half a year ago.

After Lin Run's memorial was sent to Xiyuan, Emperor Jiajing asked the Zongren Mansion to contact the vassals from all over the country and let them express their opinions and work together to find a solution.

But at the beginning, the princes and princes from all over the country remained silent. After all, they all knew what it meant. If they wanted to reduce the welfare of their clans, they were naturally unwilling to say anything.

That is to say, it was Nanling King Zhu Mukai who finally took the initiative, and then other vassal princes' palaces began to respond. The suggestions made were good and bad, but it depends on how the Ministry of Rites and the Hanlin Academy screen and decide.

After all, they have the right to speak, and whether they implement it depends on the court's wishes.

"Let the vassal vassal participate in the subject selection. I don't know if your majesty will pass it in the end."

Wei Guangde knew that the seven suggestions put forward by Nanling King Zhu Muwei were a bit exaggerated and flashy, but the one about allowing the clan to participate in the imperial examination and become officials was a bit interesting.

At least, it opens up an idea, that is, members of the clan do not need to stick to the "ancestral precepts" and can work in agriculture, business and officials, just like ordinary people.

But what it looks like now is that the clan can't do anything, but in fact it's doing everything, but it's just under the name of its servants.

The seven suggestions put forward by Zhu Mukai, King of Nanling, are: first, please establish a sect to promote moral education;

The second is to set up subject selection to encourage talents;

The third is to strictly protect the survey and prevent abuse;

The fourth is to strictly protect the survey and prevent abuse;

The fifth is to exercise discipline to quell gluttony;

The sixth system is to worship and sweep to reflect broad filial piety;

The seventh is to establish a worry system to save salary and expenses.

"Then let's take a look at the regulations compiled by Li Shangshu tomorrow."

Wei Guangde didn't want to get involved in the clan affairs for the time being, so what he said was naturally a bit perfunctory. He had thought of it before, and he didn't know whether he thought of it or whether later generations had seen articles about the Ming Dynasty clan, so he thought of a quota method.

That is to say, the total number of Lumi for each clan is fixed, and then the Lumi is divided equally according to head count and title.

In this way, no matter how the clan reproduces, the total amount of Lumi that the court needs to bear will not change.

However, if this strategy is really implemented, I am afraid that the clans will be in a huge quarrel, and I don’t know if it will cause clans from all over the country to collectively riot again.

In any reform, there will always be people whose interests will be harmed, and they will inevitably be obstacles to reform.

Facing the royal family, especially those of the upper class, Wei Guangde does not dare to compete with them now.

Although the princes and dukes in various places have little power and are suppressed by local officials everywhere, it depends on what the matter is.

It is easy to say whether the government is right or not, but if neither of them is right, people will directly sue the emperor. In order to maintain family harmony, the emperor may have to take action against him and other civil servants.

After all, the emperor is actually the head of the royal family, and naturally he has to speak for the clan members.

These are not what Wei Guangde saw, but things that all civil servants can see. Therefore, the previous reforms of the royal family regulations were actually mostly aimed at the middle and lower-level royal family. For example, no one dared to touch the welfare of the royal family at the level of princes and dukes.

After all, once it is done, the consequences are unpredictable.

On the second day, Wei Guangde entered the Hanlin Academy and saw that the high-ranking officials of the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Personnel were all here. After all, people like Li Chunfang, Yan Ne, Dong Fen, and Gao Gong were all Hanlin scholars, so it was no wonder that the Ministry of Rites and the Hanlin Academy had to discuss together.

In fact, Yuan Wei also had the title of Hanlin Academy scholar, but he was the only two grand secretaries in the cabinet of the Ming Dynasty, so it was naturally inconvenient for him to attend.

However, Li Chunfang's first draft had already been placed on his and Xu Jie's desks.

There were no photocopiers in those days, and everything had to be copied manually. The clerks of the Ministry of Rites only copied more than ten copies of the "Regulations", so it was naturally impossible to get one for each person.

However, they still roughly divided it up, at least the bachelors, attendants, and attendants all had one copy in their hands, and as for attendants and attendants like Zhang Juzheng and Wei Guangde, they also had one, and they all sat down and watched silently.

Others could only wait, or according to the terms that were put forward for discussion during the discussion, they would roughly know what was going on.

It should be said that the "Zongfan Regulations" compiled by Li Chunfang under the order of the emperor was essentially a small change or patch to the "Huang Ming Zuxun" issued by Zhu Yuanzhang that year.

In the 28th year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang, the Emperor of Ming, promulgated the "Huang Ming Zuxun", setting an unchangeable law for future generations.

The enfeoffment of the kings was an important part of Zhu Yuanzhang's political design. Therefore, there are many contents related to the vassal kings in the "Huang Ming Zuxun". In fact, it mainly involves the inheritance of titles and the legal privileges of the royal family that are different from civilians, officials and even nobles.

When Zhu Yuanzhang formulated the "Zongfan", because the Ming Dynasty was founded too short, many existing problems did not break out, especially the problems of royal family inheritance and later. To put it bluntly, Zhu Yuanzhang did not expect that the population of the royal family would have a population explosion in the Jiajing Dynasty.

This time, the "Zongfan Regulations" have changed most of the problematic items, and are more detailed, and naturally they are also targeted at restrictions.

The "Zongfan Regulations" written by Li Chunfang has a total of 67 detailed rules. Wei Guangde only took a quick look and knew that Li Chunfang had the same concerns as himself, so there are only 4 rules in the "Regulations" that involve the prince's title.

They are: Article 5 "Inheritance of the title by the relatives", Article 7 "Inheritance of the title by the prince", Article 25 "Reduction of the title by the prince", and Article 32 "Request for the title of the biological mother".

Among them, Article 7 "Inheritance of the title by the prince" involves the interests of the prince, which stipulates that those who should inherit the title of the prince must wait until they have served their time and are old enough before they can request the title, and they are not allowed to cite the special cases of previous years and ask for it during the service.

In fact, preventing the prince from inheriting the title too early and receiving the annual salary was already done in the Zhengde period, but it was not made public on paper. Now Li Chunfang directly put it on the stage.

The restrictions on the level of the county king are also extremely limited, with only a few articles.

The remaining dozens of articles target the middle and lower-level royal family, from generals to lieutenants, which can be said to be caught in one net.

In the Ming Dynasty, the royal family was divided into eight levels: Prince, Prince of the County, General of the State, General of the State, General of the State, Lieutenant of the State, Lieutenant of the State and Lieutenant of the State. The prince level was naturally the upper level of the royal family, the general level was the middle level, and the lieutenant level was the lowest level, and it was also the group whose interests were deprived the most this time.

When Wei Guangde saw Article 51, he sat up straight.

Article 51 "stop paying wages". According to the regulations, the houses, crowns and clothes and tombs of the princes, generals, lieutenants and county lords will be exempted from all payment in the future. This time, the princes were not left out.

Come to think of it, the prince's mansion was built by the court a long time ago, while the princes, generals and lieutenants needed to be newly built, and the local government borne the corresponding labor costs.

However, this expense can actually be borne by the princes, but it is difficult for the generals and lieutenants below.

In the past, after they were canonized, the government would prepare houses and crowns of corresponding levels, which was a considerable expense. If this were the case, some members of the royal family would be displaced.

Thinking of this, Wei Guangde looked up at Li Chunfang above. At this time, he was talking to Yan Ne and Gao Gong next to him, perhaps explaining some of the clauses.

It seemed that Gao Gong and others also saw the complete "Zongfan Regulations" for the first time, but they didn't know where their doubts came from.

However, based on Wei Guangde's view of everyone present, or the entire civil service group, it is highly likely that no one would be dissatisfied with the "Regulations" that mostly targeted the middle and lower-level royal family.

Born in the royal family, if you are in the upper class, it's okay, but if you are in the middle and lower classes, it's really a bit miserable.

Wei Guangde didn't pay much attention to the discussions in the Hanlin Academy. He just came here to have a discussion, sat with his peers and friends in the Hanlin Academy, shared the copy in his hand with them, and unknowingly spent a day.

When it was time to leave office, everyone had the same attitude towards getting off work, which was to be on time.

After all, this matter cannot be discussed in a day or two and the results can be reached. Many people have to go back and think about it before putting forward their own opinions.

However, when Wei Guangde was about to leave the Hanlin Academy, he was stopped by Gao Gong from behind.

"Shaloan, take a slow step, and let's walk together for a while."

Wei Guangde really didn't want to have contact with Gao Gong today, for no other reason. At noon, he heard someone spreading the news intentionally or unintentionally that the Ministry of Rites had received the news from the Chief of Prince Jing's Mansion in Luzhou, Huguang'an, saying that Prince Jing was ill and had been spread all over the country. Asking famous doctors around for diagnosis and treatment would not help, so he wrote to the capital to ask the capital to send an imperial doctor.

Although the time was a bit tight, Wei Guangde relied on his intuition to suspect that this matter might be Gao Gong's handiwork. He should have understood that the last obstacle to King Yu's accession to the throne still existed.

Although Xiyuan's current attitude does not seem to pose a threat to King Yu, it is possible after all.

The Ministry of Rites is the link between the imperial court and the various vassals. In the past, it was through the Zongren Mansion, but now the Zongren Mansion has long been placed under the Ministry of Rites, and now it is under the control of Gao Gong.

"Prince Jing's body seems to be difficult to survive. According to the text sent by Prince Jing's Mansion, His Royal Highness's illness this time is very dangerous."

In Gao Gong's sedan chair, Gao Gong whispered to Wei Guangde.

By this time, it would be really stupid if Wei Guangde didn't react.

He thought he was the only one who thought of King Jing's threat to King Yu, but he didn't see that Gao Gong had actually laid chess pieces around King Jing early, but he just kept silent.

This time, I am afraid that I am also intimidated by Yan Shifan's reputation and have to use hidden chess pieces to completely cut off his thoughts.

Are you planning to put the hat on yourself if something unexpected happens?

Wei Guangde suddenly became alert. He would not accept this casually.

"His Royal Highness Prince Jing is ill. His Royal Highness Prince Yu will be very sad if he knows it. But has the memorial been sent to Xiyuan?"

Wei Guangde replied casually.

"Of course, the Zongren Mansion did not dare to delay for a moment after receiving the news and directly handed it over to the cabinet for disposal."

Gao Gong also answered casually.

"That's good. It's best to make preparations for arranging the imperial doctor in advance. Once the decree comes, you have to rush to Anlu without stopping."

Wei Guangde turned his head and looked at Gao Gong and said.

"Shan Loi should know that Yan Shifan has been locked up."

"Have heard a little bit."

"Over at the Criminal Department, Prince Yu has asked you to pay more attention. You must not neglect this matter."

"Brother Suqing, I actually think Mr. Xu Ge is the safest to deal with this matter. He and Yan Shifan have worked together for more than ten years, and Shandao only lasts a few years."

In the sedan, Wei Guangde and Gao Gong talked about Yan Shifan, their words were very relaxed, as if the overall situation had been decided and victory was certain.