After the ming emperor Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty, he formulated a very detailed clan policy, stipulating that the prince was made a prince, the prince's son (except the son who inherited the prince's title) was made the county king, and the son of the county king (except the son who inherited the title of county king) was named the zhenguo general, "Sun Fuguo general, great-grandson Fengguo general, fourth sun Zhenguo lieutenant, fifth sun fuguo lieutenant, and sixth and below all fengguo lieutenants." Different levels of clans enjoy different numbers of "Feng Lu".
During the more than two hundred years of Ming rule, the clans flourished, from dozens in the Zhu Yuanzhang period to at least tens of thousands at the end of the Ming Dynasty. Among the members of these clans, the princes and county kings were treated relatively highly, and they had their own royal palaces, farms, and related industries. However, among these princes, one of them is the most special, not only because of his special title, but also because of his many heirs! So who is this person?
This person is Zhu Jixuan, the king of Qingcheng! According to historical records, Zhu Jixuan was the grandson of Zhu Yuanzhang, the ming emperor, and his father was Zhu Tang (zhu Yuanzhang's third son) the Prince of Jin. The reason why Zhu Jixuan is special is first of all because his title is special! Because according to the Ming Dynasty's custom of dividing seals, the title of the county king was always a place name. For example, Zhu Jixuan's second brother Zhu Jiye was made the King of Gaoping; the third brother Zhu Jixi was made the King of Pingyang; and the fifth brother Zhu Jihuan was named the King of Ninghua.
So, why is Zhu Jixuan so special? It turns out that there is a story here! On December 24 of the seventeenth year of Hongwu, the fourth son of Zhu Tang, the King of Jin, was born, that is, Zhu Jixuan. The King of Jin quickly sent someone to inform his father, Zhu Yuanzhang, of the news. When Zhu Yuanzhang received this news, he was holding a "Qingcheng Banquet", so he was very happy and immediately made a decision to crown Zhu Jixuan as the King of Qingcheng in the future.
In his later years, Zhu Yuanzhang summoned the "elders of Qin, Jin, Yan, The Fourth Son and Shuzi" to Nanjing, and personally took charge of education himself, including Zhu Jixuan, the King of Qingcheng. After Zhu Yuanzhang's death, they left Nanjing and returned to their fiefdoms. However, the Jin Dynasty palace was in turmoil, and the second generation of Jin kings were even stripped of their titles. In the first year of Yongle, Ming Chengzu Zhu Di issued a decree to move king Qingcheng to Luzhou. Ten years later, Zhu Di again issued a decree to move King Qingcheng to Fenzhou.
Although Zhu Yuanzhang had high expectations for Zhu Jixuan, the king of Qingcheng, this county king was very ineffective, and he did almost nothing, but was reprimanded by the emperor many times, such as his "unauthorized hair of stagecoaches" and "the soldiers as thieves". In addition, Zhu Jixuan, the king of Qingcheng, has another thing that is more famous in history, that is, he gave birth to a hundred sons, and all of these hundred sons survived, and none of them died prematurely!
Whenever a banquet was held in the Qingcheng Palace, Zhu Jixuan and his hundred sons would attend, but there was an embarrassing incident at the banquet, and the father and son brothers "could not understand each other"! That is to say, due to the fact that there were too many people, not only Zhu Jixuan could not recognize his sons, but even their brothers could not fully understand each other! According to the ancestral system of the Ming Dynasty, the eldest son of Zhu Jixuan, the king of Qingcheng, was given the title of Prince shizi of the county, and the other ninety-nine sons were all named generals of Zhenguo.
The "salary" of the king of the county is two thousand stones, and the general of Zhenguo is one thousand stones, that is to say, the family of Zhu Jixuan, the king of Guangqingcheng, the imperial court has to spend 101,000 stones every year, and then his hundred sons will have children, and the expenditure will be greatly increased. However, Zhu Jixuan, the king of Qingcheng, did not live long, and he died of illness in Xuande at the age of 46. After that, the title of King Qingcheng was passed down until 1644, when he was killed by Li Zicheng.
References: 1. "Narrative of the Events of the Emperor and Ming"; 2. "History of the Ming Dynasty"