Although Zhu Yasuo believed that open source was the correct way to solve financial problems, in her and Hao Guangming's view, some financial expenditures belonged to the province and could be used to save money.

For example, the salary of the vassal king, the clan, and the Ming Dynasty assets they occupied.

Zhu Yusao held financial meetings with the cabinet for several days in a row, covering all aspects. On this day, the issue of vassalage and vassalage was finally discussed.

There was a clan mansion in the Ming Dynasty, but in the Yongle Dynasty, the clan clan mansion became a virtual institution, and clan affairs were actually handled by the Ministry of Rites.

In addition, when Li Zicheng conquered Beijing last year, several officials of the Zongren Mansion either surrendered to thieves or died for their country. After Zhu Aona registered, she did not reset the Zongren Mansion or the Zongren Order.

Therefore, the Ming Dynasty of the Zhaowu Dynasty did not have the institution of Zongrenfu.

Fortunately, when Zhu Yuyao had previously intended to deal with the sect-vassal issue, he had asked the Ministry of Rites to be responsible for collecting relevant information, and only now can we ask.

"Shang Shu of the Ministry of Rites, please tell me about the current situation of our Ming dynasty." Zhu Aona said.

In the few months since she ascended the throne, Zhu Yurao has slowly changed some of her previous habits and paid more attention to etiquette.

For example, when communicating with these cabinet ministers and ministers in informal situations, they are often addressed as sir; and in such more formal meetings, they are addressed as officials.

Upon hearing this, Huang Daozhou stood up, bowed his hands, and flipped through the workbook in his hand.

The workbook has replaced the previous Banhu and became the standard equipment of Zhaowu courtiers. After the first few days of discomfort, many officials found that the workbook was much more practical than the Banhu.

In the work of various departments and in court meetings, it has become normal to flip through the prepared workbooks and report things.

"Your Majesty, there are currently 27 registered princes in the Ming Dynasty, 613 registered princes and counties, and the rest of the registered clans have more than 330,000 people.

However, this data was obtained in the 13th year of Chongzhen. As for the actual number of people in the vassals at each level, it can only be barely determined to the level of county and king.

In addition, the world has been in turmoil for many years, and many sects and vassals were massacred by bandits, and some died due to various other reasons, so the actual number of people must be much lower than the registered number."

The main attendees of this meeting were cabinet ministers and the Minister of Rites, who were all familiar with the situation, so they all looked calm after listening to Huang Daozhou's report.

Zhu Ailao nodded slightly.

At present, she only knows about the situation of the princes.

For example, these 27 princes do not include Prince Fu and her two younger brothers Prince Ding and Prince Yong, not to mention Zhu Cihong.

Among them, King Fu has been expelled from the feudal vassal by her decree, and all three generations of King Fu will be under house arrest in Nanjing.

As for her three brothers, their whereabouts are still unknown, so they will naturally not be included in the statistics.

In addition, most of the princes including King Lu, King Lu, King Tang, King Chu, King Gui, King Heng, and King Qin were taken to Nanjing City.

For those whose entire families were killed by the peasant army, or who disappeared, the Ministry of Rites would also find nearby clan clans to attack the vassal.

Since Zhu Yushuo is discussing the issue of Zongfan today, she represents the main force of Zongfan. All 27 princes are in Nanjing and controlled by her.

For the time being, she was raising these princes with money from her own funds, so naturally they would not be given very good treatment. They were basically just a house where the whole family could barely live, and the food and clothing were guaranteed to be shabby.

Therefore, the 27 princes together spent tens of thousands of taels of silver a year, which was nothing.

But this is not a long-term solution.

Zhu Yurao plans to send all the princes overseas in the future, and this issue will be discussed at this financial meeting.

"Let's talk about the salaries of the sects and vassals in the past." Zhu Ainao said.

Huang Daozhou turned over a few pages of the workbook and said: "In the Ming Dynasty, the salary of the vassals has been changed several times. By the time of the Chongzhen Dynasty, the annual salary of the prince was reduced to 10,000 shi, the prince of the county was 2,000 shi, the general of the country was 1,000 shi, and the general of the auxiliary country was reduced to 10,000 shi.

Eight hundred stones, general Fengguo six hundred stones, lieutenant Zhen Guo four hundred stones, lieutenant Fu Guo three hundred stones, lieutenant Feng Guo two hundred stones."

Zhu Ailao and all the ministers frowned after hearing this.

If the salaries of the vassals of the Chongzhen Dynasty were strictly distributed, if nothing else, the 613 princes alone would need to distribute 1,226,000 shi of grain a year.

Counting other levels of sects and vassals, this number will only be larger.

What's more, according to the practice of the previous imperial court, the bulk of the financial expenditure of princes and princes was not the annual salary, but the vassal industry. Generally, it was fields, certain local taxes, minerals and other resources.

Therefore, although the issue of vassals is not the biggest problem of the Ming Dynasty, it is definitely a problem that must be solved, otherwise the Ming Dynasty will sooner or later be overwhelmed by the increasing number of vassals.

Thinking of this, the ministers were determined to reform the vassal system.

Zhu Yurao then spoke: "Everyone has seen that the current issue of the sects and vassals of the Ming Dynasty has reached a point where it has to be resolved. Otherwise, even if I and the ministers drive out the Qing captives and bring peace to the world, it will at most extend the life of the Ming Dynasty for several decades.

That’s all.

As for how to solve the issue of vassalage and vassalage, I have had many discussions with your ministers before. Now I have asked the secretariat to prepare a "Preliminary Draft of the Reform of the Ming Dynasty's vassalage and vassalage system". Please take a look at it."

After Zhu Yurao finished speaking, Liu Zhu, who had already prepared the book, distributed the eight white-covered booklets to the tables of the ministers.

Then there was the sound of reading.

Hao Guangming, who was on the other side, saw this scene through his mobile phone camera and couldn't help but take a screenshot and record a short video of more than ten seconds. He thought it was quite interesting and subconsciously wanted to post it on the Internet.

But he finally endured it.

Then he also picked up a copy of the "Preliminary Draft of the Reform of the Ming Dynasty Zongfan System" and started reading it - this document was actually an outline drawn up by him. He had read the content several times, but he still wanted to see if there were any gaps.

The first is to reform the clan title system.

One is to directly remove the titles of the clan below the county king and allow the clan below the county king to make a living on their own.

In fact, the Ming Dynasty continued to operate on the vassal system. During the Wanli Dynasty, clans without titles were allowed to make a living on their own. Zhu Aona's reform this time only cut it more severely.

In this way, the Ming court only needs to be responsible to the princes and princes. There are currently less than a thousand people, and the burden is immediately greatly reduced.

Second, a vassal school was established. In order for princes and county princes to inherit the title, they must pass the vassal school examination.

If there are multiple heirs to a title, the one with the highest test score will inherit the title; conversely, if a prince or prince still has an heir who passes the test ten years after his death, he will be removed from the title directly.

The reason why it was set as ten years was mainly to deal with the situation when the prince died and his heirs were young.

Third, the title of a county prince can only be passed down for three generations, so the great-grandson of the county king is a commoner. The title of a prince can be passed down for five generations, and then he is reduced to the title of county king, and after passing the title for three generations, he is a commoner.

Fourth, both princes and princes can serve overseas and receive rewards for meritorious service. They can also increase the number of titles they inherit. Princes can even become princes through meritorious service.

Although these four vassal title reform measures are harsh, they also give the vassal kings the possibility to turn around. It is not too harsh to say the least.

As for those sects and vassals who were directly cut off from the rank of common people by one sword, they may not be unhappy.

For one thing, starting from the Jiajing Dynasty, the imperial court had not paid enough salaries to the vassals. By the Chongzhen Dynasty, many of them were delayed, so that some vassals with titles starved to death.

Secondly, although Zhu Yuluo cut off their titles, he allowed them to engage in various industries openly and openly like civilians. For those who aspired to sects, it was no different than an opportunity to be reborn.

In addition, in the Southeast that experienced the last years of Chongzhen, these sects and vassals may not have numbered 200,000. They were scattered in various places and were unpopular. Even if chaos broke out, the imperial court would be able to quell it.

Secondly, the salaries of the only remaining princes and vassals at the two levels of county and king were also reduced again.

The prince's annual salary was reduced to five thousand dan, and the county king's annual salary was reduced to one thousand dan. The price of grain in March of that year was converted into silver.

Finally, it was the most important reform to the vassalage - no longer to seal the vassal within the Ming Dynasty!
Chapter completed!