My father is Jiajing

Chapter 373 Emperor Jiajing and the Imperial Clan

Emperor Jiajing also hated the issue of hereditary succession, but unfortunately this was the ancestral system of Emperor Taizu. Even Zhu Di, who successfully "Jingnan" as a vassal king, also knew that the hereditary system was unsustainable, but in the end he rebelled in order to emphasize the political correctness of his own rebellion.

He had to stand on the moral high ground of supporting the ancestral system of Taizu and rebuke his nephew for going against the ancestral system and reducing the power of the princes. Therefore, even at the last moment, Zhu Di also imposed some restrictions on the power of the princes, but they were only restrictions and did not endanger their hereditary succession.

But how many princes were there during the reign of Zhu Di? At most, including the princes born to the princes, there were only about fifty.

But during the Jiajing period, this month's figure had to be multiplied several times.

And this does not include the royal family members with lower titles below the title of Prince.

If they were included, anyone would feel their heart skip a beat when seeing this number.

Because these people are almost all unproductive and rely entirely on salaries from the imperial court and local government offices.

Although during the reign of his uncle Emperor Xiaozong Hongzhi, certain changes were made to this matter and the amount of treasure notes was deducted more, these princes and dukes did not live on these salaries.

They lived by annexing surrounding lands and using their royal status to avoid paying taxes.

Therefore, although they do not have much freedom in their respective fiefdoms, they are definitely not beings that anyone can easily provoke.

If they were angered, they would beat even local officials like the governor or the provincial governor, and after the beating, the imperial court would at most reprimand them, but would not cause any harm.

Therefore, after two hundred years of development, the princes and royal families had actually become an abscess on the body of the Ming Dynasty that could not be squeezed or dealt with.

Now, seeing that Hu Zongxian had dealt with another group of hereditary ruffians who were not members of the royal family and nobles so well, Emperor Jiajing was extremely envious.

As the saying goes: The kindness of a gentleman will be cut off after five generations.

In fact, the blood relationship between most of these royal families and the royal family has lasted for more than five generations.

In addition, according to the principle that the princes must be based in foreign lands, many of the princes and royal family members, even close relatives, have almost no feelings for each other.

They are completely "family members" in the patriarchal sense, but strangers psychologically.

Imagine a group of strangers you’ve never met before, asking you for money year after year. How would that feel?
It would definitely be very unpleasant if it wasn't much.

But due to the clan system and the ritual system, even the most evil emperor had to accept defeat. After all, the emperors after Taizu and Chengzu did not have the absolute authority to overthrow the world.

So, sometimes you just have to bear it.

However, even if he had to endure it, Emperor Jiajing would use drastic measures whenever he had the chance to deal with some disobedient princes.

For example, in the third year of the Jiajing reign, Prince Qing Zhu Taihong recklessly bribed the eunuchs around Emperor Jiajing in order to get back his salary that was cut by the court. But he never thought about why his salary was cut.

In the fifth year of Zhengde, Zhu Tseng-chang, the Prince of Anhua, a branch of Prince Qing, rebelled. This cowardly Zhu Tai-hong actually performed the ritual of monarch and subject to Zhu Tseng-chang in order to save his life. But who is Zhu Tseng-chang? Isn't it seeking death for him to visit such a poor place as the Northwest?

You have to know that the Ming Dynasty has been fighting with the Tatars in the north for more than a hundred years, and almost all of its elite troops are in the Nine Borders area. Isn't his rebellion just giving benefits to these fierce border troops?

Therefore, Zhu Zongqiang's rebellion was suppressed almost as soon as it emerged.

Prince Qing Zhu Taiheng did not actually participate in the rebellion, but as the head of the Qing clan, he could not escape responsibility. For this reason, the then emperor Wuzong Zhengde issued an edict in the name of the court to remove his guards and reduce his salary by one third.

Originally, the matter would have been covered up, but unfortunately Zhu Taiheng thought that the emperor had been replaced, and the new emperor would pardon the punishment he had received from the previous emperor in order to save face for the clan relationship.

But unfortunately, Emperor Jiajing himself had such a "cold" character that he hated vassal kings like Zhu Taihong who came to him to try to become relatives after who knows how many generations.

Therefore, just when Zhu Taiheng was confused and thought that he could be safe by bribing the eunuchs around Emperor Jiajing, Emperor Jiajing got angry and directly deposed Zhu Taiheng from the throne!
Originally, Emperor Jiajing wanted to take advantage of the situation to abolish the Qing clan, but he took into account that he had just ascended the throne for three years and his foundation was not stable, and that the Qing clan was the descendant of Zhu Zhan, the sixteenth son of Emperor Taizu.

Therefore, he could not give face to Emperor Taizu. Therefore, after deposing Zhu Taiheng, Emperor Jiajing could only hold his nose and let Zhu Taiheng's son Zhu Yifang inherit the title of Prince of Qing. This was also the first vassal prince deposed by Emperor Jiajing.

Then in the 29th year of the Jiajing reign, Zhu Houwan, Prince of Zheng, who was from the lineage of Emperor Renzong, was so reckless that he repeatedly wrote to Emperor Jiajing, asking him not to take elixirs, not to be too indulged in Taoism, and to devote his attention to managing the country well.

Isn't this just stirring up a hornet's nest?

Emperor Jiajing was furious and hated Zhu Houwan, the Prince of Zheng. Didn't Zhu Houwan look at what kind of person his ancestors were? Zhu Zhanjun, the first Prince of Zheng, relied on the love of his father and brother to be picky about his fiefdom, and changed from Fengxiang Prefecture in Shaanxi to Huaiqing Prefecture in Henan.

However, this brother, perhaps because he had been favored since childhood, was often entrusted with tasks to worship at the imperial mausoleum on behalf of the emperor. He became increasingly arrogant and always killed people in his own fiefdom. The emperor at that time, Baozong, was extremely troubled by his uncle, but considering his uncle's special status, Baozong only issued an edict to severely reprimand him, and did not really trigger it.

Now the seventh-generation grandson of this bastard actually wrote to Emperor Jiajing, asking him to stop taking drugs, stop being superstitious, and be diligent in his work. Isn't this just a slap in the face of Emperor Jiajing?

You should know that it was in this year that Emperor Jiajing removed Emperor Renzong Zhu Gaochi from the Taimiao. At this time, Prince Zheng of Renzong's faction actually wrote a letter to the emperor. No matter what his mentality was, Emperor Jiajing had to give him some respect!

Therefore, the Jiajing Emperor got angry and demoted Zhu Houwan to a commoner on the grounds that the prince interfered in state affairs. He imprisoned Zhu Houwan in Fengyang and made him reflect on his mistakes facing the wall.

It can be said that just talking about the two incidents of deposing the kings, Emperor Jiajing actually did his best. He did not go to extremes and did not directly abolish the feudal system. He also left some way out for the Qing and Zheng feudal systems.

But how did these princes repay him?

Recently, Emperor Jiajing received a report that Prince Hui Zhu Zaizhen was killing people indiscriminately in his fiefdom. Emperor Jiajing had been suppressing this report and was not ready to act on it. Now that Emperor Jiajing saw Hu Zongxian's methods, he couldn't help but become suspicious.

"Should we give Hu Zongxian an imperial envoy and have him go to Junzhou Prefecture to investigate this Huiwang Zhu Zaizhen?"

Emperor Jiajing couldn't help but think about the feasibility of this matter.

(End of this chapter)