I have a chat group.

Chapter 50: The Zhu Family Army of the Ming Dynasty
Everyone knew that Chongzhen was indeed in trouble.

The end of the dynasty plus the Little Ice Age, this is a double difficulty!
There were both internal and external troubles, and the Jiangnan area no longer paid taxes to the Ming Dynasty.

This is clearly demonstrated by the inscription on Zhang Pu's five tombstones alone.

By the end of the Ming Dynasty, tax resistance had become a major event that could be widely publicized, and it was also a major event that needed positive publicity, the kind that needed to be written about in great detail.

This proves that the southern part of the Ming Dynasty no longer belongs to the Ming Dynasty.

That's why Zhu Youjian needed to form an army that he could control, and this army would belong to the Ming Dynasty.

Gao Wenfeng, "In fact, you have an army that you can call upon at any time, but you just don't have a choice!"

Zhu Youjian, "Are you talking about Qin Liangyu's White Rod Army? I have already mobilized that army, and they have all entered the capital, but this army only has a few thousand people, and at most they can maintain the safety of the palace. In other aspects, they are completely useless. They have too few people!"

Zhu Jianshen, "He is talking about the Zhu Family Army. The members of my Zhu Ming royal family can be formed into an army. This army belongs to you and can be mobilized, and they will never betray you! Because they are the ones who will live and die with you. The Ming Dynasty is good for them and the Hades have no choice in playing this game! So you can use them as your troops!"

Zhu Jianshen knew very well how many people there were in the Ming royal family at the end of the dynasty.

That’s a number of people numbering in the hundreds of thousands. These hundreds of thousands are people on the list, that is, people with names and surnames. If we include those who have no names and surnames, the number will be even higher!

It is even possible that the number could reach as high as one million. The Ming imperial family alone has as many as one million people. If we select males between 20 and 30 years old from them, there would be at least hundreds of thousands of people. The hundreds of thousands of Ming imperial troops could become the last resort of the Ming Dynasty.

But this has never happened in history, and no one dares to do anything about it now because there are too many people.

Zhu Youjian, "Grandfather, I can't possibly do this. You have to know that there are too many of them! And if they die, what will happen to the reputation of the Ming Dynasty royal family? That would be forcing my relatives. How can I save my reputation?"

Zhu Houzhao said, "Do you still want the Ming Dynasty? Boy, don't think I don't know what you are thinking. Don't you think that you are not the legitimate emperor and those people will not listen to you? Because you became the emperor because your brother had no son, you are worried that those princes will have the same idea and join the big clan with the small clan."

Zhu Houzhao, "I can tell you that this is almost impossible unless Prince Fu is dead but his son is still alive. Otherwise, it is impossible! The Ming Dynasty only has peer inheritance and junior inheritance, not elder inheritance. Moreover, this is only a choice within the immediate family, that is, choosing from your father's younger brothers and descendants. Others do not have this right."

As an emperor who had not yet died, Zhu Houzhao knew his future and the position that would be chosen by his cousin, so he was very knowledgeable about these things. He was also very clear that the reason his cousin Zhu Houcong was able to inherit his position was entirely because it was in the best line with the inheritance rules of the Ming Dynasty.

Now, no emperor of the Ming Dynasty dares to say that he knows these things better than Zhu Houzhao. Of course, the emperors of the Ming Dynasty in the chat group will undergo an operation of increasing from a small amount to a large amount now or in the future.

Just like Ming Daizong replaced Zhu Jianshen.

Zhu Youjian replaced Zhu Youxiao, and finally it happened in the future. Zhu Houcong replaced Zhu Houzhao!
Anyway, they all have to endure these things.

Therefore, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty cared very much about these things.

Zhu Jianshen, "My grandson is right, Zhu Youjian, you just need to ask your uncle if he has any thoughts of dying! If he does, let your cousin enter the palace. If he doesn't, let your cousin enter the palace anyway!"

Gao Yuliang, "Gao, really Gao, worthy of being Emperor Xianzong, this move is really beautiful!"

Gao Yuliang, "Emperor Chongzhen, has your eldest son been born?"

Zhu Youjian, "Eldest son? I haven't been to the harem for more than a year since I entered the palace. None of my concubines are pregnant, not even a daughter, so how can there be an eldest son!"

Gao Yuliang, "Then take your cousin into the palace. Does he know about the past between Emperor Jing and Prince Liang?"

Zhu Youjian, "Of course I know. Han Jingdi's mother wanted Wanglu to become the emperor, so she always asked Han Xiandi to make Prince Liang the crown prince. This matter has been recorded in the history books of all dynasties. How could I not know it!"

Gao Yuliang, "Then why don't you learn it! Emperor Chongzhen, just because you don't have money doesn't mean your uncle doesn't have money. Your uncle Prince Fu is rich. Not only is he rich, he is very rich!"

Gao Yuliang: "In the 40th year of Wanli, Prince Fu was already 27 years old and had not yet been enfeoffed. The chief minister of the cabinet, Ye Xianggao, petitioned the emperor and forced him to agree to hold the ceremony in the spring of the following year.

When the time came, Shenzong broke his promise again, but considering the overwhelming public opinion at home and abroad, Prince Fu had no choice but to become a fiefdom.

So Concubine Zheng took the opportunity to make a fortune for her son.

Concubine Zheng requested that she be granted 40,000 hectares of land at once. The ministers argued hard and had to reduce it to 20,000 hectares. Then she made five more demands. First, the 40,000 hectares of farmland should be halved to 20,000 hectares. Since there was not enough fertile land in Zhongzhou, the fertile land in Shandong and Huguang should be used to make up for it.

Second, Zhang Juzheng’s property was confiscated, and the remaining official property was transferred to the Fu Mansion.

Third, all kinds of miscellaneous taxes along the river from Yangzhou to Taiping, Anhui, were transferred to Fufu.

Fourth, part of the income from Sichuan salt wells was allocated to Fu Prefecture.

Fifth, please provide 1,300 yin of Huai salt.

You can calculate how much money these five points are worth. Prince Fu has also acquired a lot of land in Henan. His family should have 50,000 to 60,000 hectares of land now. This is just one prince. What about the other princes? Those princes with a long history do not have more assets. All this is money you can use!
As for the harsh treatment of royal family members, the daimyo is about to perish, so who cares about whether they are royal family members or not.

If we don't use their money now, will we let them get beaten later?"

Although the person who was beaten with a stick was not a member of the Ming royal family, it was also a Ming noble, and a descendant of a high-ranking official with the surname Xu, namely Xu Qingjun, a descendant of Xu Da.

Everyone knew this, so beating them with a stick would not look good. It was because they were all in their own imperial study and there were no outsiders around, otherwise many people would feel a chill on their necks!

Zhu Houzhao, "Gao Yuliang is right, Prince Fu has money, so you can use it, and use it a lot!"

Zhu Youjian said, "But Emperor Jingdi has already used this strategy. Will it still work if I use it now? This is a strategy that everyone knows!"

Zhu Jianshen said, "This is an open conspiracy. Even if Prince Fu knew there was something wrong with this, could he refuse? This is the throne. If there is a one in ten thousand chance, we must try our best! For something like this, we only need a glimmer of hope, and it is a promise from the emperor!"

Zhu Houzhao, "Yes, do you remember what Emperor Taizong said to Prince Ning back then? He also said to Prince Han, 'The Crown Prince is ill, you should encourage yourself.

This is a real master of pie-in-the-sky drawing.

By the way, I have already found quite a few of my close cousins, told them about my finite offspring, and promised them the possibility of becoming the crown prince, so that they all can support my reforms.

Now they are all very obedient, and each one is working harder than the other. They all know that what I say may not be true, but there is a certain possibility, because I am almost 30 years old and still don’t have a child. Just this point makes it worth their while to fight for it! ”

Zhu Houzhao also laughed. He had also played such a trick. He didn't have a son now. If he didn't make good use of it now, when would he make use of it?
Besides, he was far inferior to Emperor Jing of Han. When Emperor Jing of Han had a son, he told his younger brother to make him the Crown Prince, but he turned around and made him the Crown Prince. Compared with the other party, he was still far behind.

Zhu Youjian was a little confused at this time. How could he do this?

Gao Yuliang, "Emperor Wuzong did a good job. This is how it should be played. If there is a one percent chance, you must give it one hundred percent effort. This is a true conspiracy, and no one in the Ming dynasty can resist this temptation."

Indeed, no one could resist, because this move hit the weak spot of everyone, of course, the close relatives, because the so-called close relatives are the descendants of the sons or brothers of the previous generation of emperors.

If there are no legitimate sons or eldest sons, they are the natural heirs.

This is also the reason why those princes in the Ming Dynasty are so happy, because they are all qualified to be emperors.

Zhu Youjian, "Emperor Xianzong, you are right, I can indeed play it this way."

Zhu Youjian then went to arrange for his royal family members to enter the palace. He also arranged for some royal family members to come to Beijing. He originally did this just to determine how many royal family members there were in the Ming Dynasty. As a result, the number of people revealed exploded, and there were more than 20 adult men.

This was also what Zhu Jianshen had asked him to do before, but he didn't realize what he was supposed to do. After all, he was not trained in an orthodox way, and the emperor had only been on the throne for a year, so he knew nothing.

However, precisely because all the members of the Ming royal family had been summoned before, there were no problems when the Later Jin invaded this time.

Chongzhen was able to deal with all these people of the Later Jin at a much lower cost than in history. The only problem was that he used up all the guards of the Ming royal family.

It was precisely because of the existence of those people that he was able to easily arrest all those people in his court. Otherwise, based on his previous operations, he would not be able to deal with the old fox in the court.

(End of this chapter)