My Portable Ming Dynasty

Chapter 89: Two-level differentiation
Zhang Juzheng quickly read the memorial, thought for a long time and said:

"Su Zilin is being too hasty."

When Gao Gong saw the reactions of the two, he was already itching to do something. He personally stepped down, took the memorial from Zhang Juzheng's hand, and quickly read through it.

After reading it, Gao Gong had a similar reaction to the others. He sighed:
"If the time is right and I submit this memorial, maybe I can actually get rid of Dai Fan. What a pity."

As a cabinet minister, Gao Gong certainly knew the disadvantages of being a vassal.

It can be said that half of Shanxi’s border defense problems are caused by these vassal states in Shanxi.

But based on Gao Gong's understanding of Emperor Longqing, if Su Ze submitted a memorial at this time, it would only anger the emperor.

But in this world, things often cannot be done even when the time is right. As a mature politician, Gao Gong naturally understood this.

Thinking of this, Gao Gong looked at Zhang Juzheng, then at Zhao Zhenji, then picked up his pen and said:
"I support Su Zilin's memorial."

Gao Gong clearly stated his attitude, and Zhao Zhenji immediately said:
"I also support this."

The two men looked at Zhang Juzheng, who had the most complicated feelings among the three.

The reason is very simple. Zhang Juzheng had really suffered the hardships of being a vassal king.

Zhang Juzheng was of military origin, and his grandfather Zhang Zhen was a guard of the King of Liao.

Zhang Juzheng passed the imperial examination at the age of sixteen, which caused a sensation throughout the Huguang region and became a legend. Many people came to visit him and were proud to make friends with him.

When Prince of Liao Zhu Xianwei was still the crown prince, his stepmother, Princess Mao, often criticized Zhu Xianwei for not studying hard and compared him with Zhang Juzheng, asking him to take Zhang Juzheng as an example and study hard.

Princess Mao's nagging of disappointment in Zhang Juzheng, the "kid from Uncle Zhang next door", made Zhu Xianwei deeply jealous and hateful towards Zhang Juzheng.

Later, Zhu Xianwei inherited the title of King of Liao and sent people to entertain Zhang Juzheng's grandfather Zhang Zhen. During the banquet, he also sent people to toast Zhang Zhen. Finally, Zhang Zhen died suddenly after returning home from the banquet.

While in Jingzhou, King Zhu Xianwei of Liao was often impeached by local officials, and Zhang Juzheng often received letters from his hometown telling about the absurd deeds of the King of Liao.

Things like occupying land, abducting women, and harming the people are all normal operations of the princes.

Promiscuity and fondness for men are not uncommon among the royal families.

The most explosive thing about Zhu Xianwei was that he planned to report the son born to a prostitute in his palace to the Ministry of Clan Affairs, so that the son of this prostitute would also be included in the family tree.

Even the attendants in the Liao Palace could not stand this operation which clearly violated the ancestral precepts, so Zhu Xianwei sent people to beat to death those attendants who were about to report him.

As a native of Jingzhou, Zhang Juzheng hated the King of Liao to the core, both publicly and privately.

Su Ze's memorial requesting the removal of Dai Fan touched Zhang Juzheng's heart.

If the Dai vassal state can be abolished, what about the Liao vassal state?

Zhang Juzheng said to the Zhongshu Sheren beside him:
"Go to the Ministry of Revenue and find all the memorials on land clearing in Datong over the years. I will write a memorial to them."

Hearing this, Gao Gong knew that Zhang Juzheng was going to write another memorial to agree with Su Ze.

He picked up his pen and wrote down his draft opinion. Now it all depends on the emperor's attitude.
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Outside the capital city.

"Dad, the capital is just ahead!" Zhu Juntang supported his father, Lieutenant Zhu Chonghua, and hid in the bushes, waiting to enter the city at dawn.

Zhu Chonghua and his son were both members of the royal family of Dai.

According to the system of the royal family, they cannot leave Datong.

They crossed the checkpoints along the way to the capital, naturally to file a complaint with the emperor.

Along the way, the father and son not only had to avoid the guards from the Dai Wang Palace, but they also had to take detours to avoid the imperial court checkpoints, so they could only travel at night and rest during the day, and they could only take small paths in the wilderness.

Zhu Chonghua was already very weak. He knew he might not make it. He took his son's hand and said, "Son! As long as we get to the capital and deliver the ten-thousand-word petition to the Ministry of Public Security, we will have a chance to survive!"

Zhu Juntang has a good appearance, but he is skinny and looks malnourished.

Zhu Chonghua asked his son to unpack his bag. Inside was the official robe given by the court when he succeeded the Lieutenant of the Fuguo Army. It was also the only proof of their royal family status. Otherwise, with the father and son looking so embarrassed, the Tongzhengsi would probably think that they were beggars who came to Beijing to beg.

In fact, the Lieutenant of the Auxiliary State can be considered as a middle-level official among the royal family, but Zhu Chonghua and his son really have not had enough to eat in these years.

The Ming Dynasty royal family was a severely polarized group.

The princes lived an extravagant life, and the senior royal family members were parasites from birth, enjoying the imperial salary and various privileges, and they were lawless in the local area.

The middle and lower-level royal family members were in a miserable situation. Their rice allowances were often withheld, and because of clan prohibitions, they were not allowed to engage in the four occupations of the people.

Although since the mid-Ming Dynasty, the royal family relaxed restrictions on the imperial examinations for clan members and allowed some clan members to participate.

But the imperial examination was inherently difficult. Even if the ban on scholars was lifted, it could only improve the lives of some outstanding members of the royal family. For ordinary middle and low-level royal family members, they were not given salary and were not allowed to engage in agriculture, industry or commerce, so they really had no way to survive.

In the 40th year of the reign of Emperor Jiajing, Wang Zongmu served as the governor of Shanxi. At that time, Shanxi suffered from a drought. Wang Zongmu wrote to Emperor Jiajing, "Nearly 200 people died of famine and epidemics last year."

The issue of royal salary in the late Jiajing period was a lose-lose situation in which both the state and the royal family were in trouble: on the one hand, the national finances were overwhelmed by the excessive amount of salary; on the other hand, the lower-level royal family members became increasingly impoverished because they could not receive the salary they relied on for survival.

On the contrary, the land of the upper-class royal family is constantly expanding, and they will use their privileges as vassal states to withhold the rice and salary of the lower-class royal family.

Because Zhu Chonghua's rice salary was delayed, she went to the Dai Wang Mansion to ask for it, but was driven out by the Dai Wang Mansion's steward.

Later, Zhu Chonghua brought several royal family members who were almost starving to death to make trouble. This time, Prince Dai Zhu Tingzhai stepped forward and ordered the guards to beat Zhu Chonghua out.

Prince Dai Zhu Tingqi believed that Zhu Chonghua was the instigator of the trouble, and ordered that Zhu Chonghua's son Zhu Juntang be deprived of the qualification to take the imperial examination.

Although the ban on imperial clan members becoming scholars was lifted in the mid-Ming Dynasty, only "outstanding sons of the imperial clan" were still allowed to take the imperial examinations.

The power to determine who are the outstanding children lies in the hands of the princes of each vassal state.

Zhu Juntang has been studying hard since childhood and is Zhu Chonghua's only hope. Now that Prince Dai has deprived his son of the hope of taking the imperial examination, Zhu Chonghua simply gritted her teeth and took her son to Beijing to file a complaint.

Zhu Chonghua asked his son to take out the ten-thousand-word letter from his bag.

This ten-thousand-word letter was written by Zhu Juntang, describing the various illegal acts committed by the king in recent years, such as occupying military settlements, exploiting the people, and oppressing the royal family. It also contained the signatures and seals of seventy members of the royal family of the King of Dai.

It was precisely because of this ten-thousand-word letter that Zhu Chonghua and his son were hunted down by the guards of the Prince of Dai's Palace.

At this moment, Zhu Chonghua suddenly heard movement behind him!
(End of this chapter)