After Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty, in order to strengthen his control over the world and prevent the occurrence of struggles for power and thrones, he implemented a system of sub-feudalism for the emperors surnamed Zhu, allowing them to become kings of various places, supervise officials in various places, and jointly "assist the imperial family".
"The world is big, and it will build a feudal screen, defend the country, and live in peace." Now that the sons are long, it is advisable for each of them to have a knighthood and divide the towns and kingdoms", "Records of Ming Taizu"
In this regard, he also explained that "it is not a matter of selfishness, but a system of ancient sages, and it is a plan for long-term peace and long-term rule."
His original intentions were good, but he did not expect such a sub-feudal system, which later caused the huge power of the king of the clan.
After Emperor Jianwen became emperor, he found that the king of the clan had become the main factor endangering the imperial court, so he began to "cut the clan".
Unexpectedly, his move ignited the explosive package, causing Zhu Di's "Battle of Jing".
After Zhu Di seized the world, he learned the lessons of the past and began to deprive the kings of the clan of their military and political powers, and still gave the clan kings extremely generous treatment economically, that is, the so-called
"There are ming and all the treasures, divided and sealed but not tin soil, knights but not the people, food and lu but not governance" - "Draft History of the Qing Dynasty"
How generous are the treatment of these clan kings?
During the Zhu Yuanzhang period, it was stipulated that the prince's feng lu was 50,000 stones a year, and later it was set as 10,000 stones. Other princes below, 2,000 stones of the county king, 1000 stones of the zhenguo general... Even the county lord and the county lord need two hundred stones.
Every descendant of the royal family began to enjoy the imperial court's fenglu from the age of 10, and when they got married, the state distributed houses, crowns, wedding expenses, and when they died, there was a thick funeral fee.
Zhu Di still did not say anything, and was more generous.
On the other hand, the officials of the imperial court, Zheng Yipin officials, paid 900 stones a year... Zheng Qipin 140 stones, the difference between the prince and the prime minister is more than ten times!
Moreover, the magistrates did not have the right to rule over the kings of the domain, and the kings of the clans were the kingdoms within a kingdom in the royal city. If they have violated the law and discipline, the magistrate has no right to deal with it directly, but can only report it to the imperial court and wait for the court to deal with it.
Generous treatment was given to them, but at the same time a "tight curse" was added - the movement of the clan kings was strictly restricted.
Since the Yongle years, the descendants of the Zhu clan have not been able to participate in the imperial examination to enter the career, nor can they engage in occupations such as workers, peasants, and merchants, nor do they have the right to go out of the palace to hang out and observe the people's feelings.
That is, the Qingming Festival has arrived, and if you want to go out of the city to visit the tomb, you must report it to the imperial court and obtain consent before proceeding.
In order to prevent the princes from having the opportunity to collude, the emperor also stipulated that the princes were not allowed to see each other for life.
If someone violates it, you will be punished for treason.
"Several lines of promotion examples, MG indiscriminately." The two kings did not see each other, and people thought that they were thinner than father and son. "'Policing' Hai Rui
These clan kings have eaten and drunk enough, are energetic, have nowhere to go, stay in the palace all day and do not come out, which is equivalent to "house arrest", and for a long time, it is not sick.
Later, they finally found a way to have a pastime, that is, "to be a bridegroom every day, to enter the cave room at night", and to carry out the action of "making people" non-stop.
Generations passed, and finally there was a great demographic fission.
To give just one example, Zhu Jixuan, the king of Qingcheng, the brother of Ming Chengzu Zhu Di, had more than 70 sons, and when he reached his grandson, zhu Zhongyi, the third generation of Qingcheng king, he surpassed his grandfather, setting a record, and had a total of 94 children.
By 1492 AD, the direct descendants of Zhu Jixuan, the king of Qingcheng, had exceeded 760 people, and three generations had come to a fission of 1:760.
At the end of the Ming Dynasty, Xu Guangqi once calculated that the number of people in the Ming Sect's room doubled every 30 years or so.
According to Qing estimates, by the early years of Chongzhen, Zhu's heirs had exceeded the 2 million mark.
The population is growing explosively, while the preferential treatment of the imperial court has remained the same, which naturally greatly increases the burden on the imperial court.
According to historical records, in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the official income of Shanxi was 1.52 million stones per year, but the payment of the local feudal kings reached 3.12 million stones per year.
The same is true in Henan, at this time, the income of the official government is 840,000 stones / year, and the imperial family's Feng Lu reached 1.92 million stones / year.
During the Jiajing period, the situation was even worse, so the chancellor wrote to the emperor, saying that he had reached the best of the country and could not afford to support these imperial descendants:
"The generals and lieutenants of the royal palace move tens of thousands of times, and if they order for decades, although they will damage the accumulation of the inner palace and exhaust the full tax of the world, xi will be enough to support it?" "In the future, the Son, God, and the Descendants will pass on to all generations, and with a limited land, they will increase the grain of the uncounted, and where will they do it to do the good?"
The exploitation of the descendants of the Zhu family, coupled with natural disasters, the common people were finally overwhelmed, so the peasant revolt at the end of the Ming Dynasty broke out.
Zhu Yuanzhang truly regarded the world as Zhu's surname Jiangshan and turned it into his own private property, wanting his descendants to enjoy their success; Zhu Di was afraid that the emperors and grandchildren would rebel like himself and take houlu measures.
But neither of them expected that the population would grow exponentially, and it was their decision that became a major factor in the demise of the Ming Dynasty.
After Li Zicheng's great peasant uprising, with a deep hatred for Zhu surname, he came to settle the general ledger.
"Whoever is attacked, plundered and burned, is extremely vicious, and the clan is particularly bad", and the descendants of the Zhu clan were almost exterminated.
This may be something that Zhu Di never dreamed of.
References: "History of Ming", "Records of Ming Taizu", "Draft History of the Qing Dynasty"