Volume 1: Birth! Seven time travelers Chapter 012: My Yuan Cong Team (Part 4)
"Your Highness the Crown Prince is here to see you."
"Gentlemen, please excuse me."
On the fifth day of the first lunar month in the thirty-third year of the Wanli reign (1605), after the short Spring Festival holiday, after repeated negotiations and compromises among various forces, the eight recognized lecturers finally came to Ciqiong Palace to pay a visit to Zhu Youdong.
Since he has been officially canonized as the Crown Prince, Zhu Youdong is the monarch. Therefore, the eight lecturers must first perform the monarch-subject ceremony to him, and then Zhu Youdong will perform the teacher-student ceremony to them. As for the three companions? If you were not the Crown Prince, would you have been able to get such a great teacher to teach you? Whether this teacher-student relationship can be established in the future depends on your performance.
After the two sides exchanged greetings, Shen Li made a gesture of invitation to Lu Kun. Then the moral master who had been resting at home for more than seven years stepped forward generously: "Your Highness, this is the teaching schedule agreed upon by us, please take a look."
Eight teachers take turns teaching, and to be honest, it's somewhat stressful.
Although Zhu Youdong is only four years old now, he still has a lot of schedule every day.
In the Ming Dynasty, because Zhu Yuanzhang was a model worker, during the Hongwu period, civil servants of the Ming Dynasty, from the emperor to the lowest rank of ninth rank, had only three days of vacation throughout the year.
After Zhu Yuanzhang died, successive emperors could no longer bear such high-intensity work, so they gradually increased the number of holidays. During the reign of Emperor Wanli, civil servants had 18 days of vacation a year.
Although Emperor Wanli had not attended court for many years, it did not mean that he did not work. As long as Wanli worked, Zhu Youdong would usually go and learn how to handle government affairs.
People see different things when they stand at different heights. As a time traveler, Zhu Youdong's knowledge is definitely better than that of the entire Ming Dynasty. But in the actual handling of government affairs, when he received Wanli's instructions everywhere from the Huangji Palace to the Yangxin Palace, his ability to handle government affairs was improving every day.
Therefore, his schedule was very tight, and he could only give the eight teachers the afternoon.
"After discussion, we suggest that two classes be held every afternoon. I will teach the Analects to the Crown Prince, Shen Ge Lao will teach Mencius, Jun Yi (Zhang Yicheng) will teach calligraphy and painting, Fei Bai (Xiong Tingbi) will teach the Great Ming Code, Zhi Sheng (Sun Chengzong) will teach the Crown Prince to write eight-part essays, Chang Qing (Wen Tiren) will teach the Crown Prince etiquette, Zi Xian (Xu Guangqi) and Mr. Li will teach astronomy, mathematics, calendar, and agriculture. After four days of teaching, the Crown Prince can rest for one day to review what he has learned. In this way, a cycle of five days will be repeated. If it is a court holiday, the class will be automatically postponed."
"Teacher Lu has made thorough arrangements, and the students have no objections."
"In this way, we have decided on the course. Starting at 2:30 tomorrow, I will be the first to teach the Crown Prince."
"The students will definitely be waiting for you at Ciqing Palace on time."
After the eight gentlemen left, the atmosphere, which had been very formal but somewhat solemn before, suddenly eased a lot, because the remaining people were all Zhu Youdong's real subordinates.
"Your servant Li Jinzhong greets the young master."
According to the account of Liu Ruoyu, the author of Zhuo Zhong Zhi, in the court of the Ming Dynasty, eunuchs were the emperor's household slaves, so when addressing the emperor, they also called him Your Majesty or Your Highness, except when there were court officials present. In private, the dead emperor was generally called by his temple name, such as Xuanmiao Yeye, Shimiao Yeye, etc. The current emperor was called Wansui Ye or Huangye, and if the relationship was close, he was simply called Grandpa. The prince was called Qiansui Ye, and the more intimate one was called Xiaoye. As for the grandson of the emperor... well, he can't be called Baisui Ye, right? Therefore, the eunuchs in the palace are gradually agreeing: the prince's nickname will be split in the future. Just call the prince Qiansui Ye, and the grandson of the emperor is called Xiaoye.
"Well, Li Jinzhong, I heard that your last name wasn't Li before?"
"My young master is wise. My original surname is Wei, but I changed it to enter the palace."
"Well, you are working by my side now. If you still don't dare to use your real name, it will make me look like a shady shop. From today on, you will restore your original surname! I will write a note later and ask the Internal Affairs Bureau to change your name back."
"Thank you for restoring my original surname. I have the audacity to ask you for one more favor. Could you please give me a new name?"
"Hahahahaha~~Okay, okay, just call yourself Wei Zhongxian!"
"Wuwuwu~~ I feel like I have been reborn after my young master has given me a name! I swear to heaven that I will be loyal to my young master till death."
"Very good, Wei Zhongxian."
"The servant is here."
"I will leave the farm that Grandfather Emperor gave me to you to manage. If you do a good job, you will definitely reward me. If you do not do a good job and I am not satisfied, haha, I will officially open my eyes to the world. If it were in the Han Dynasty, it would be called opening a government and raising a flag. So, if you do not do a good job, I will have one less head to sacrifice to the flag!"
"Please rest assured, young master! I will definitely manage the manor that His Majesty has bestowed upon me in a spotless manner. Uh, no, that is, anyway, I will manage it very clearly."
"That's called being well-organized! I know you didn't receive formal education when you were young, and you can't read very well. If you have the chance in the future, you must study hard. Cao Huachun."
"Master, I am here."
"When you have time in the future, teach Wei Zhongxian to read more. I don't ask him to write good articles, but at least he can read, read memorials, and do math."
"Yes, I obey your command."
"Wei Zhongxian, regarding that manor, I want absolute control. I will need to do many things in this manor in the future. You must absolutely obey and unwaveringly carry out any of my orders!"
"Yes! I understand. I will make sure to sort out the accounts of that farm as soon as possible."
During the reign of Zhu Yuanzhang, the Ming Dynasty made clear regulations on the treatment of royal family members. There were a lot of different titles, including princes, dukes, various types of dukes, generals, etc. And although there were so many different classes, the treatment of each class was very generous.
Take the prince as an example: Zhu Yuanzhang stipulated that the prince should receive 50,000 dan of rice, 25,000 strings of banknotes, 40 pieces of brocade, 300 pieces of ramie silk, 100 pieces of gauze and 100 pieces of silk, 500 pieces of silk, 1,000 pieces of winter and summer cloth, 2,000 liang of cotton, 2,000 yin of salt, 1,000 jin of tea, and 50 pieces of horse fodder per month. The satin was given to the craftsmen every year and was allocated to the prince's palace for self-production.
What is this concept? In the peaceful times of the mid-Ming Dynasty, when rice prices were very cheap, about 7 or 8 dan of rice was equivalent to one tael of silver. The prince's annual rice allowance of 50,000 dan was more than 7,000 taels of silver . If there was a slight social unrest and the price of rice rose, this amount of money would not be able to be stopped by a few thousand taels of silver. (After the opening of the Longqing Port, a large amount of silver poured in and the silver price depreciated, so the rice price in the Wanli period fluctuated between 0.3 and 0.5 taels of silver per dan)
The treasure notes of the Ming Dynasty were constantly depreciating. By the Wanli period, 25,000 strings of treasure notes were almost worthless. Therefore, this can be ignored.
As for other silk fabrics and the like, when the purchasing power of silver was strong in the Ming Dynasty, they were worth about two to three thousand taels of silver.
In short, the court gave out about 10,000 taels of silver to a prince every year.
Doesn’t sound like much?
However, you have to know that the Zhu family was very fertile! During the Wanli period, the number of male members of the imperial clan had reached more than 130,000. If all the imperial clan members were paid in full according to the rules set by Zhu Yuanzhang, the annual fiscal revenue of the Ming Dynasty would need to be multiplied by 1.4 to 1.5 to achieve this goal.
Therefore, the emperors of the Ming Dynasty had a headache for the royal family. The emperors reduced their expenditure on the royal family by various rogue means, such as constant discounts, delayed payment, and not naming the newborns of the royal family (the emperor was the head of the Zhu family. If the head of the family did not name the newborn, the newborn could not be registered in the clan office, and naturally there would be no corresponding salary). But even so, during the Wanli period, more than 40% of the central government's annual fiscal revenue would be consumed by the huge royal family.
Therefore, although the crown prince was the heir to the throne and could be compared to a prince, and although Zhu Youdong was deeply loved by Emperor Wanli, Emperor Wanli still only gave Zhu Youdong an imperial farm of more than 2,000 mu, and then gave him 5,000 taels of silver at one time.
However, for a time traveler, such a large amount of start-up capital is enough!
