Chapter 96 Chapter 7 Only one's own son can be trusted

Zhu Yuanzhang always thinks very long-term when doing things.In fact, as early as the founding of the country, he had considered the issue of checks and balances on generals, and took an important measure in advance. Although Zhu Yuanzhang attaches great importance to geography, compared with blood ties, this kind of emphasis is not worth mentioning.To be honest, of all the people in the world, he only trusted his own sons. In the third year of Hongwu, although the second son was only 16 years old, the third son was only 15 years old, the fourth son was only 11 years old, and the youngest son was just one year old, he made all the sons king before the great officials.In his edict he said:

Examining the ancient and past emperors, since they have the world, the elders who live in the sons must be the heirs.If there are many sons, they will all be divided into the grass and land, and they will be named kings, so as to clarify the distinction between the elders and the younger, and those who consolidate the internal and external forces.I have ten sons today. The eldest son was established as the crown prince last year.On the seventh day of the fourth month of this year, the second son was named King of Qin, the third was named King of Jin, the fourth was named King of Yan, the fifth was named King of Wu, the sixth was named King of Chu, and the seventh was named King of Qi , the eighth son is the king of Tan, the ninth son is the king of Zhao, the tenth son is the king of Lu, and the nephew is the king of Jingjiang.All rituals have been customized.Yu play!Many people build vassals and assistants, so the vast rocks are safe; the land is sealed, so the relatives are thick.Ancient and modern friendship, how dare I be selfish!

It is the blueprint drawn by him before the founding of the country to ensure that the country will always be in the hands of Zhu surname by dividing the sons into the important places in the world, "consolidating the internal and external forces", and "safety in the wide pan and rocks".He stipulated that the mansions, costumes and military horses of the kings should be the same as those of the emperor, and the princes and ministers should "fall down and pay homage" when they see them.It is stipulated that its personal guards should be "as few as three thousand, and as many as ten thousand and nine thousand" ("History of the Ming Dynasty" volume 116, "Preface to the Biographies of the Kings").

In particular, the northern king of Sai has a stronger force.For example, King Ning's troops "brought 80,000 armour, and 6,000 leather chariots", so each of them was strong, "there were dozens of towns, and the palaces and palaces were inferior to the capital of the emperor, and they were better than the armored guards."Zhu Yuanzhang has unlimited trust in his children. He stipulates that in case of war, even veteran veterans must obey the control of the vassal king. Anyone with a little knowledge of Chinese politics will see that this arrangement is inappropriate.Because strong vassals will inevitably challenge the centralization of power and become a hidden danger to the long-term stability of the empire, there have been too many chaos in foreign vassals in Chinese history.Pingyao County's views on Ye Boju's teaching are very typical. In the ninth year of Hongwu, he wrote a letter and pointed out that Zhu Yuanzhang was "too extravagant to entrust":

I am afraid that after several generations, the tail will not be lost, but if the land is cut and the power is seized, there will be hopelessness, and what is more, it will arise by chance, and it will be impossible to prevent it.The discussant said, all the kings are the flesh and blood of the son of heaven, although the land is divided widely, and the legislation is extravagant, how can there be any reason to contend?The minister thought otherwise.Why not show it in the Han and Jin Dynasties?Xiaojing, the grandson of Emperor Gao, and the kings of the Seven Kingdoms, thought that the emperor was the same as his grandfather, brothers and grandchildren. Once they cut down their land, they suddenly formed troops and marched westward.The kings of the Jin Dynasty were all descendants of Emperor Wu. After the Yi Dynasty, they attacked each other one after another, and they became the troubles of Liu and Shi.From this point of view, it is obvious that enfeoffment exceeds the system, disasters arise, and aiding the past proves the present.

These words made sense, but Zhu Yuanzhang was furious when he saw the ignorance, thinking that this was alienating their family, and wanted to shoot Ye Boju himself.After being persuaded by the officials, he did not do it himself, but Ye Boju finally died in prison for this matter. Although the idea of ​​using one's own descendants to check and balance the world's military officials is wonderful, but Zhu Yuanzhang's children were too young at the beginning of the founding of the country.Although Zhu Yuanzhang hoped that his children would grow up as soon as possible day and night, human growth is not like crops, which cannot be stimulated by applying a few more fertilizers, so it will take time for this idea to really work.Before that, Zhu Yuanzhang could only be patient and try his best to perfunctory the heroes.