Zhu Yuanzhang may have been poor and afraid.
Therefore, after Lao Zhu became the Son of Heaven, he established a feudal system on the basis of the ancient feudal system, and used it as an unchangeable ancestral precept for all generations.
Lao Zhu's move was, first, to rely on the clan and the "Ping Fan royal family" to strengthen his rule over the world; second, to leave superior living conditions for future generations.
However, Zhu Yuanzhang could not think of it in any way: he dug a big pit for Daming.
These clans had no egg use in the "Ping Fan Royal Family", but they became a heavy burden on the Ming Dynasty.
Zhu Yuanzhang's "original intention"
Zhu Yuanzhang's feudal system was first of all for the sake of the royal family.
By dividing the sons into various places, Zhu Yuanzhang gradually recovered his military power from the founding general to the hands of the sons.
According to his vision, the sons could assist the Son of Heaven and strengthen their rule over the world, especially the "King of Sai" who were distributed in the border areas, and could control the armies and defend the frontier for Daming.
In addition, Zhu Yuanzhang also hopes to give enough material protection to future generations.
According to the system, the emperor's sons (except for the eldest son as the prince) were all made princes; the sons of the prince (except for the eldest son of the concubine) were made the king of the county; and the sons of the king of the county (except the eldest son) were made the general of the zhenguo... One level at a time, until the township lord.
Zhu Yuanzhang hoped that as many descendants as possible would enjoy the title and enjoy eternal wealth.
He stipulated that the descendants of the royal family could not have to engage in any profession, and the consumption of each royal descendant should be borne by the state.
Ming Ren sighed: The grace of my relatives can be described as all-encompassing, and its thickness is far greater than that of previous generations.
In Zhu Yuanzhang's view, such a system is not only to "fight the tiger and brothers", relying on his own brother Ping Fan royal family to achieve the stability of Daming, but also "the grace of relatives" to ensure the glory and wealth of future generations.
However, Lao Zhu really thought wrong this time.
It's getting less and less useful
When Zhu Yuanzhang first sealed the sons, the effect was not bad.
The King of Qin, the King of Jin, the King of Yan, the King of Dai, and others all had considerable military ability, and indeed played a considerable role in the war against the Northern Yuan, achieving the effect of "the royal family of pingfan".
However, as soon as Old Zhu left, Zhu Di, the fourth elder who was originally going to be the "royal family of Ping Domain", turned around and became the Son of Heaven himself.
Zhu Di himself was the son of heaven when the king of the clan rose up as a soldier, and naturally did not believe in the idea that the king of the clan could "screen the royal family of the clan", and continued to cut the clan and limit the power of the kings of the clans.
After that, the kings of the various clans are not able to "screen the royal family", but dare not "screen the royal family", but any time you show interest in politics, you will be vigilant and attacked by the Son of Heaven.
Therefore, the kings of the Ming Dynasty "consciously" turned away from politics.
By the end of the Ming Dynasty, the "self-consciousness" of the kings of the various domains had reached an incomprehensible point.
At the end of the Ming Dynasty, when the imperial court was in danger, Chongzhen called on the royal families to collect donations, and some of the kings of the clans made "symbolic" contributions, and some even did not pull out a dime, and they did not feel that they were one with the fate of the Ming Dynasty.
"Ping Clan Royal Family"? It has long been a joke.
Zhu Yuanzhang overestimated the bond between the "relatives" of the descendants, but underestimated the shocking ability of the descendants to create people.
Amazing man-making
It is worth noting that the number of clan kings has not been much in the Ming Dynasty, and Zhu Yuanzhang has appointed 25 clan kings. In the entire Ming Dynasty, there were only 68 feudal kings and 20 posthumous titles; during the Chongzhen dynasty, the number of clan kings was only 33.
Therefore, what brought a heavy burden was not the number of clan kings, but the rapidly expanding population of the clans under the various clans.
Zhu Yuanzhang himself had 26 sons and 16 daughters. There are 58 men and women (including grandchildren) below the prince and the prince of the county.
During the Zhu Di period, this number increased to 127.
Subsequently, Zhu Di restricted the activities of the kings of the various clans, and the population of the clan began to "take off".
The clans could do nothing else, and the only way to make a contribution to Daming was to create people.
By the Time of Zhengde, there were 30 princes, 250 county kings, and 2,700 generals and lieutenants!
In the eighth year of Jiajing, there were 30 princes, 203 county kings, 5 shizi, 41 eldest sons, 438 zhenguo generals, 1070 auxiliary generals, 1137 fengguo generals, 327 zhenguo lieutenants, 108 auxiliary lieutenants, 280 fengguo lieutenants, 4300 unnamed people, and 275 shuren.
By the 23rd year of the Wanli Calendar, the population of the clan had swelled to more than 115,700 people!
The intermediate expansion process is omitted and directly on the result.
In 1644, the population of the registered clan reached 332855, and there were 221667 surviving people.
The swelling clan population brought a heavy burden to the Ming Dynasty.
"Years of Age" that can't make ends meet
Zhu Yuanzhang's treatment of his descendants was extremely high.
Regarding Lumi, he originally stipulated: the prince has 50,000 stones, the county king 6,000 stones, the county prince is 15 years old, he gets 60 acres of Yongye field, and the rest of the princesses and princes and daughters each have Lu rice.
However, after only a dozen years, Zhu Yuanzhang felt a little overwhelmed.
Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang adjusted to: Prince Wanshi, Junwang 2000 stones.
Still, it's already a very high cost. Prince Wanshi, Qilu was already 7 times the highest income of Daming officials.
Moreover, for every additional person added by General Zhenguo and his descendants, 200-1000 stones of Lu rice were added.
As a result, with the rapid expansion of the population of the clans, more and more lu rice was needed by each clan.
By 1615, the annual need for lu rice was already 1.43 times the annual income of the Ming Dynasty!
With the strength of the world, they can't afford it!
The imperial court could not afford to raise it, so naturally it was necessary for the clans to "solve it by themselves".
And the harm of "solving it yourself" is greater than the harm of financial burden!
land
When the various domains were established, they all received a certain amount of zhuangtian, for example, Zhu Yuanzhang gave the prince 1,000 hectares.
Thereafter, the Son of Heaven would sometimes give it, and the lords would beg to increase the fields.
That's all well said.
As the population of the clan increased and the pressure on the clans increased, they began to take advantage of legal and economic privileges and began to forcibly occupy the fields.
The impact of this footprint is enormous.
During the Wanli Period, the eleven prefectures and counties of Chengdu Province, the royal palace accounted for seven tenths, the juntun two tenths, and the mintian only one tenth!
In this way, the land available to the imperial court was greatly reduced, and the number of landless peasants was greatly increased.
On the one hand, there is no land and can only rebel the people, and on the other hand, the imperial court, which cannot requisition endowments and cannot afford to pay money to suppress and appease the uprising.
In this way, the imperial court naturally disintegrated.
other
In addition to the land, the king of the clan has other "ways".
Successive Ming emperors have rewarded kings with merchant taxes and fish carved rice in some regions.
In addition to begging, the kings also took advantage of their privileges to "make money" themselves.
They set up private tax customs on land and water to collect taxes from past merchants.
In addition, they set up shops and deal in various monopoly goods.
For example, salt, which has always been directly monopolized by the imperial court.
The kings' management of salt not only disturbed the prices of the necessities of life, increased the burden on the people, but also affected the income of the state, so that "the military supplies of the three towns and the reserves of the nine sides are helpless."
In this way, the imperial court naturally disintegrated.
Zhu Yuanzhang could not have imagined that the Feng Lu needed by his descendants would swell to more than the annual land tax of Daming!
What he could not have imagined was that his descendants would make the income of the imperial court plummet by annexing land and operating salt, and the people would have no way to live.
Of course, what he couldn't imagine most was that he had taken so many clan kings and clans, and actually remained indifferent when Daming was in danger, and sat back and watched Daming perish!