For more than 270 years in the Ming Dynasty, the system of sealing the king was consistent with that of the Ming Dynasty. This paper attempts to explore the reasons why this system was implemented in Ming Taizu and the influence of the suzerain-vassal relationship on politics and economy in Ming Dynasty.

one

In the second year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang established a feudal monarchy. The following year, nine people, including Prince Zhu Shang, were made princes. The history books say: "Ming Taizu set the world for three years, punishing the orphans of Song and Yuan Dynasties and losing its ancient feudalism, so it chose most famous cities, sealed the philosophers and waited for them to be strong and subdued." History shows that the implementation of the system of sealing kings is not the main reason for the demise of the Song and Yuan Dynasties. In the feudal dynasty of China, the rulers of the Yuan Dynasty attached great importance to making kings. Someone in the rulers of the Qing Dynasty once pointed out: "Ming Taizu wants to seal the philosophers, but making false statements (according to the theory of isolation in Song and Yuan Dynasties) is actually not allowed." (4) Then what was the reason for the decision to seal the king and implement it at the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China?

Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty under the historical condition that Mongolian rulers occupied the Central Plains for nearly a hundred years. The peasant uprising at the end of Yuan Dynasty destroyed the rule of Yuan Dynasty, and also strongly impacted the economic and political system and related measures of Yuan Dynasty. However, some backward systems still exist as remnants to varying degrees. Some political systems established in the early Ming Dynasty were inevitably branded with the Yuan Dynasty. For example, from the enfeoffment system in the Yuan Dynasty, especially from the measures of enfeoffment of scholars as kings and garrison on behalf of emperors, we can see the shadow of the enfeoffment system of kings in the early Ming Dynasty. Modern people point out: "Zhu Yuanzhang's enfeoffment is king, which is the continuation of the enfeoffment system in the Yuan Dynasty." ⑤

Mainly due to the political situation at that time and the urgent need to consolidate the imperial power, the system of sealing the king was formulated and implemented.

The newly established Ming Dynasty faced a complicated political situation and various social contradictions were quite acute. There are remnants of the Yuan Dynasty in Mobei, which is a serious threat. They are eager to make a comeback and disturb the bright side from time to time. The capital of the early Ming dynasty should be built in the sky, far away from the north, beyond the reach of the whip. Strengthening the frontier defense and stopping the resurgence of the Yuan Dynasty is an important event for the rulers of the Ming Dynasty to unify the whole country and implement the rule of Gong Gu. Ming Taizu attaches great importance to this. In September of the fourth year of Hongwu, he said to his ministers: "Only Hu Rong in the northwest, the world is a frontier disaster, so you must be prepared." . At the end of Hongwu, he also wrote to Zhu Fang, king of Jin and Judy, king of Yan, who went deep into the north, saying, "Be aware of the situation and be vigilant". The relationship between Ming Dynasty and Yuan Dynasty remains tense.

With the victory of the Anti-Yuan War and the expansion of the ruling area, the internal contradictions of the ruling clique in the Ming Dynasty gradually developed. New noble, the founder of bureaucracy, longed for political power and redistribution of land and wealth. They compete with each other to seize people's property, secretly occupy the country's household registration and tax revenue, and connive at the people who manage the village to oppress the people. This not only intensified the class contradiction between farmers and landlords, but also intensified the contradiction between aristocratic bureaucrats and harmed the rights and interests of feudal countries. This is contrary to Zhu Yuanzhang's policy of "rest and recuperation", which increases the income from taxes and levies and stabilizes the ruling order. What Zhu Yuanzhang can't tolerate is that civil servants don't abide by feudal laws and regulations and do whatever they want. As early as when he established himself as the king of Wu, he warned ministers to learn from the fall of the Yuan Dynasty and abide by the law. And warned general Xu Da, Chang Yuchun, etc. Instead of conniving at the family's "arrogance." After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Zhu Yuanzhang established thirty-four governors, including Li Shanchang and Xu Da, and gave them iron coupons, fields and tenants. Noble ministers, as before, flouted the law and discipline of the imperial court and broke the law by iron coupons. Ming Taizu had to write a letter, make an ironclad list, issue a statement and issue a public order. This severe measure fully reflects the universality and seriousness of the vassal family's arrogant illegal acts such as seizing the property of the officials and the people, bullying the people and serving the people.

With the increasing contradictions within the ruling clique, Ming Taizu is worried that the powerful ministers of North Korea will specialize in this matter, and the generals will be fully armed and guard the border for a long time. In particular, I am afraid that the powerful ministers will make friends with the old generals, compete with the imperial power and spy on the throne. Therefore, he became increasingly suspicious of ministers and tried to rule them out and eliminate them. At that time, the contradiction between the royal family and the ministers in the ruling group of the Ming Dynasty had developed to a very serious degree.

Compared with the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the class contradictions in the early Ming Dynasty eased, but small-scale uprisings and riots occurred from time to time in the southeast coastal areas and some northern counties. To this end, Ming law especially aggravated the suppression of people's rebellion that endangered feudal countries.

In the face of the above-mentioned political situation and complex and sharp social contradictions, in Zhu Yuanzhang's view, only his descendants are the most reliable screen vassals to safeguard the Ming Dynasty. This is the main reason for his extensive establishment of suzerainty.

two

Ming Taizu's system of sealing the king and related measures have some characteristics:

First, in the early Ming Dynasty, the vassal king was in an extremely prosperous position, with great political privileges and military power. History says: "Master a large number of troops, respect power and grasp potential." ( 1 1)

It was stipulated in the Ming Dynasty that when a general saw the prince, he should "bow to his knees and dare not salute" (12). The king has the right to use the Central Committee's right to demand treacherous court officials and dispatch troops to remove the king. (13) The captaincy has three guards, ranging from 3000- 19000( 14), which can control the fief and guard the town soldiers. Captains in dangerous areas have the power to dispatch two armies to fight in wartime (1.5), which greatly exceeds the strength of kings with the same surname in Han and Jin dynasties (1.6). From the eleventh year of Hongwu, the first letter was sent to princes, Chang 'an, Guo, Jinyang, Guo, Beiping, Di, Kaifengfu, Guo, Wuchang, Zhenguo, Qingzhou, Guo, Changsha, Wangtanzi, Yanzhou, Guilin, Jingjiang and Wang Shouqian. Later, Ming Taizu made fifteen princes, including Chun Zhu, princes. In the later period of Hongwu, nine were vassals. The kings of Qin, Jin, Yan and Ning, who were guarding the important towns in the northwest and north, had particularly strong forces. Other kings are scattered in towns and important cities in the interior.

In feudal times, princes and grandchildren were always in a very special and superior position, but it was rare for Ming Taizu to grant such a great political privilege to the vassal king.

On the other hand, in order to prevent the princes from posing a threat to the imperial court, Zhu Yuanzhang also restricted the military power and administrative power of the kings. In his article condemning Shaanxi Dusi's unauthorized increase of the Guards of the Qin Palace, he clarified the relationship between local military institutions and the Guards of the Palace (17), and pointed out that although the captaincy can control the soldiers guarding the town, it must not weaken or divide the supreme military power of the emperor. Francisco Wang Youquan supervised local subjects, but could not directly manage local civil affairs, finance and other affairs. Areas outside the palace are under the jurisdiction of local government organs at all levels. Unlike the Wang with the same surname in the early Han Dynasty, the vassal king did not have the territory across States or even counties, nor did he have the fief of the king of the Yuan Dynasty. That is, the so-called "rank is expensive but not close to the people, and the princes are divided without tin soil" (18).

Second, Zongfan was generous in his years of service, and enjoyed Zonglu in the second half of his life, enjoying great economic privileges. In the early Ming dynasty, there were specific regulations on the annual donations and gifts of princes, princesses and royalty at the following levels. In the 28th year of Hongwu, the imperial edict stipulated that, as a permanent system (19), the annual contribution of relatives and county kings would of course decrease, and "the age of the prince is full of stones, far exceeding that of the Tang and Song Dynasties" (20). In addition, the ancestral hall was extended to the seventh grandson of the emperor, Captain Guo Feng, and the fifth granddaughter, Sun Xu, Xiang Jun and Yi Bin. The further down, the more the number of imperial families, which is bound to increase the number of offerings every year.

Ming Taizu was worried about the disputes between various schools, while outsiders seized the opportunity to seize the throne. He earnestly warned the heir to the throne and the captaincy that "each should abide by the laws of his ancestors and not lose the righteousness of his relatives" (2 1). He included the status of the prince, political privileges, military guards and the "tribute ceremony" that should be observed, and stressed that the vassal system must not be changed.

On the one hand, Ming Taizu implements the system of sealing the king, shielding the royal family and making it hereditary forever, which is called "eternal reunification"; On the other hand, the book province was abolished, the prime minister system was abolished, and the imperial power was strengthened. "The power of the world belongs to one person" (22). In his mind, the two not only go hand in hand, but also serve each other. This is the only way to ensure the long-term stability of Zhu Ming dynasty.

During the Hongwu period, sealing the king played a certain role in consolidating the border defense, actively resisting the intrusion of the remnants of the Yuan Dynasty and preventing generals from specializing in military affairs. However, vassal system is a centrifugal force against authoritarian politics after all. Ming Taizu's various preventive measures can't stop the greed for Wang Zhengduo's wealth. As the people in the dynasty said, "All kings are close to Gao, or decide the world from the emperor, and they all have an imperial mind. Although the counties in the whole state are connected with the Han Dynasty, they are rich, equipped with soldiers and guards, and have resources in all directions "(23). Once the conditions are met and there is a gap, they will turn greed into action. This is the main reason for the "Jing Nan Change" in the early years of Wen Jian. Judy, the prince of Yan, resolutely implemented the policy of reducing the number of governors and further strengthening the centralization of absolutism after she ascended the throne. Since Yongle, the political and military privileges of the captaincy have been greatly reduced. Since Xuande, emperors of past dynasties have kept strict precautions against vassals politically and militarily, and the vassals have become more and more strict. But economically, the people's oil was still used to satisfy the profligacy of Zongfan. Especially for the newly sealed princes, the reward is even more generous. The descendants of old seals have been continuing, and new seals have been increasing. The prince and grandson are arrogant and extravagant, dissolute and decadent. They "all take concubines widely in order to educate Baisi men and even peanut moths" (24). Specializing in children and grandchildren, please sign your name in order to get more titles. Based on the limited historical data, this paper briefly describes the general situation of the number of royal families in the past 220 years from Hongwu period to the late Wanli period: the number of royal families doubled in the 1960s.

During the Hongwu period (1378— 1398), there were 58 people (25).

During the Yongle period (1403- 1424), the number of people (26) doubled in about 30 years.

Jiajing thirty-two years (1553),19,661person (27) from the end of Yongle to Jiajing 129.

Suddenly, it increases by about 2.8 times every 30 years.

Three years in Qin Long (1569) 28,492 people (28) 32 years in Jiajing to 3 years in Qin Long.

(24, 109 people) (29) It has increased by about 0.45 times in sixteen years.

Twenty-two years of Wanli (1594) Sixty-two thousand people (30) Three years in Qin Long to twenty-two years of Wanli.

More than doubled in 25 years.

Thirty-two years of Wanli (1604), with more than 80,000 people (3 1). During the ten years from twenty-two to thirty-two years of Wanli, it increased by about.

One third.

If we take 30 years as a lifetime, we can see from the above figures that from the end of Yongle to the thirty-second year of Jiajing 129 years, the imperial clan population grew the most, with an average growth of 2.8 times per lifetime (32). The reason is that the princes of Hongwu and Yongle dynasties had already multiplied for several generations in the late Jiajing period. From Hongxi to the late Jiajing period, 26 vassals were sealed, of which 20 established vassal states (33). Their children and grandchildren are also thriving. In other periods, the number of imperial clan doubled in 30 years (34). In the early Ming dynasty, the number of imperial clan was small, which doubled, and Zonglu did not increase many branches. In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, especially during the Jiajing Wanli period, the number of Zonglu increased sharply every time it doubled.

There are no detailed statistics on how much the imperial clan spent in the Ming Dynasty. Although there are a few examples of the types and amounts of annual contributions made by royal families at all levels, it is difficult to calculate the actual expenditure due to the increase or decrease of Zonglu in different periods. Based on the following materials, this paper estimates the general situation of imperial clan expenditure in the middle and late Ming Dynasty. Ouyang Duo, an official of the ritual department in the 32nd year of Jiajing, said: The expenditure of China imperial clan totaled 8.53 million stone (35). When Jiajing was in charge of the country for forty-one years, Lin Run also said that the above figures have not changed much in the past ten years. Let's take a look at the proportion of the old clan in the national local tax revenue in the past decade. According to statistics, in the thirty-first year of Jiajing and the forty-first year of Jiajing, the Ming government taxed rice 18224774 stone and wheat 462582 1 stone. Rice and wheat total 22,850,595 stones (36). In the same year, the annual revenue of the national government was 8.53 million stone, accounting for 46% of the total revenue of national tax rice and 37% of the total revenue of national tax grain, rice and wheat. During Jiajing period, there were19,661clansmen in China, and during Jiajing period, there were 63344 107 registered residents (37) in China. In addition to the royal family, officials, soldiers and gentry landlords, there are about millions and 60 million people supporting nearly 20,000 royal families. At that time, the average age of each member of the imperial clan was 433. 9 stone, every ordinary people have to bear Zonglu one stone and four fights a year. The huge expenditure of Zonglu made the people pay a heavy tax burden, which also caused a serious financial crisis in the Ming Dynasty. In this case, Ming Shizong had to take measures to reduce the number of patriarchs. In the "Regulations on Clans and vassals" formulated in Jiajing's forty-four years, it was stipulated that the imperial clan at all levels would partially fold banknotes, indicating that the princes would reduce some generations and reduce unscrupulous recipients (38). During the period of Qin Long, there were 3,768,220 stones in the national imperial clan, with the original color of 8,604,780 stones, totaling12,373,000 stones (39). Compared with the thirty-two years of Jiajing, the true colors of imperial clan have decreased, but the total number of albums has increased. However, after Qin Long, the imperial clan continued to multiply, and Zonglu was bound to increase. At that time, Qi Yuanzuo, a doctor of rites, deeply felt that the problem of suzerain and vassal became a chronic disease, endangering the rule of the Ming Dynasty, and put forward some suggestions, such as limiting the number of children of kin county kings, and not giving titles if they exceeded the quota; Allow the imperial clan to be an official or engage in industries such as academics, agriculture, industry and commerce; Revoke the ban that people are not allowed to cross the border outside the city. The proposal was shelved because the kings tried their best to obstruct it. The suzerain-vassal issue continues to drag on.

The main way for the Ming court to solve Zonglu was to conquer and send more troops. The history books say: "During Jiajing period, the number of people in the world was rich, and those who entered Taicang at the age of two million and two thousand" (4 1), and the silver added by Wanli in his later years was regarded as the official tax (42). Some of the taxes collected in the Ming Dynasty were squandered by governors. For example, Zhucheng and Rizhao, which belong to Wang's Qingzhou Prefecture, have "16,514 cents of rice, salt and silver every year" and other expenses, "a total of 26,152 yuan and six cents, all of which are food for the people" (Volume 43). In Baishui County, Shaanxi Province, "Jiajing scored 1,828.27 points and Wanli scored 7,352.25 points, all of which are related to the increasing number of imperial families and spitting meat to mend sores" (44). Baishui was one of the poorest counties in China at that time, and the number of new schools increased sharply. We can imagine the extra burden of people in other parts of the country due to the reproduction of imperial clan.

Wang Fu accepted Mi Lu and raised the price of silver at will. King Funing of Nanchang, "refers to collecting rice every year, with two taels of silver per stone (about three times as stipulated by the Ming court), which is more than double the limit" (45). During the Jiajing period, Zhou Jinlong, the supervisor, wrote: "Every palace in Jiangxi receives Mi Lu, one stone and two taels of money, so the people suffer, so it should be banned" (4.6). This situation is not only in Chen Hao, but also in Jiangxi's imperial palace.

Since the mid-Ming Dynasty, there has been a division between the rich and the poor within the imperial clan. Kinship county kings in power in each palace are insatiable, withholding the annual supply of poor people or encouraging them to ask for it from counties and counties on the pretext that their people are multiplying and there is not enough food distribution. Incidents of clansmen beating local officials have occurred from time to time. And often rob people's property during the day. The problem of seniority between vassals and vassals not only aggravated the financial crisis of the Ming government, but also stimulated class contradictions and contradictions within the ruling class.

In the Ming dynasty, the vassal king also arbitrarily occupied and annexed official land and civilian property in various ways, and set up farmlands widely. The Ming dynasty's closure of Wangzhuang began in the year of Emperor Renzong (47), and later became an example, increasing day by day. According to incomplete statistics, during the Chenghua period, Xianzong distributed land to 16 members of the royal family, including relatives, county kings and princesses, totaling more than 19,480 hectares (48 hectares). Yingzong and Daizong gave twenty-seven times as much land to their relatives and counties. Wu Zongshi, "The invitation of the king and his consorts to seize people's land is nothing" (49). In his later years, Sejong was given a field of 40,000 hectares (50%) by the four kings of Shu. Reward Youlan, his brother Lu enfeoffment Henan Weihui House, 40,000 hectares of land, with an annual rent of 42,000 silver. His son Axe King always gets 20,000 hectares of fertile land, and the annual rent is 46,200 silver (565,438+0). In the third year of the Apocalypse, Richards Hao, Wang Huichang Run and Wang Gui Chang Ying, the younger brothers of Axe King, respectively established Francisco and Xi Zongci Tian, each with 30,000 hectares. The envoys of Shaanxi and Huguang tried their best to find out the shortcomings, and Xizong forcibly apportioned them to Sichuan, Henan and Shanxi to "help the economy" (52). In addition, Guangzong's daughter "Suiping, Ningde, Second Princess Zhuangtian, moved to Wan (Qing)" (53). It can be seen that at the end of the Ming Dynasty, princes and princesses got a lot of land and soil.

The vassal government also annexed private land by means of buying, "offering" and seizing, and the amount was huge. For example, during the period of Zheng De, Wang Ning Chen Hao "seized tens of thousands of officials and people's fields in Nanchang" (54). During the Jiajing period, King Jing Zaizhen built a mansion in Fan Hu Guang 'an, "crossing the border to seize people's property" (55) and overcharged donations. There are thousands of intruders in other soil fields and lakes (56). Zongfan also invaded the civilian fields of counties outside the city. In an imperial edict, Zong Shen pointed out: "Those who are so powerful and violent often leave cities without permission and occupy land in counties. They have knowledge but don't ask" (57). This shows the universality of this situation. The number of official and civilian fields occupied by governors greatly exceeded the number of fields granted and negotiated. For example, in the thirteenth year of Chenghua, Shen Jian, the king of Ji, began to build princes in Huguang Changsha, and Xianzong gave him 1200 hectares of land. In the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, Hebei occupied seven or eight thousand hectares (58 mu) of county official land in Changsha, Hebei and Hebei, which was six times of the original cultivated land. This shows that Wang Fu often takes Grant Zhuangtian as its stronghold, constantly encroaching on the official land and civilian land in the surrounding areas and expanding Wangzhuang.

Land annexation is a frequent phenomenon in feudal society, especially in the late feudal dynasty. Land annexation in the middle and late Ming Dynasty also had some characteristics of the late feudal society in China. Not only was the land annexation extremely fierce and the amount was staggering, but the royal family took the lead in seizing the people's land and broke through all the barriers that restricted the development of feudal land ownership. There are economic and political reasons for this situation. Since the mid-Ming Dynasty, social production and commodity economy have further developed, and the seeds of capitalism appeared during Jiajing and Wanli years. In this case, the royal family, nobles and bureaucratic landlords have intensified their plundering of the social wealth created by the working people, which is extravagant. During the Wanli period, only one expenditure, such as conferring titles and getting married, consumed twelve million taels of silver (59). It was three times (60) of the national annual tax revenue at that time. The history book says: "Wanli has worshipped the truth in heaven (enlightenment), and the people are poor and the world is rich, and its luxury is increasing day by day." (6 1) Of course, this extravagance was instigated by emperors, nobles and bureaucratic landlords. The expansion of their desire for pleasure has increased their greed for more land, wealth and labor. Therefore, after the middle period of Jiajing, the vassal kings played more and more hard and seized more and more official land and civilian property.

In the Ming Dynasty, 62 emperors were made princes, 50 of whom were princes. There is little farmland in these fifty palaces, and there is no complete and accurate record in the historical documents. On the eve of the demise of the Ming Dynasty, there were still 28 palaces in the country, and there was no detailed amount of farmland. However, from Wanli to the apocalypse, only four brothers, including our brother and sister, their son Zhu and Guangzong's two daughters, gave and praised 10 million hectares of farmland. There are also the number of farmland granted and requisitioned by 23 other Wang Fu, and the number of farmland owned by the royal family below the county king. In particular, the amount of agricultural land illegally donated, purchased and occupied by each Wang Fu is generally more than the amount obtained through donation and acquisition. The sum of the above three types of fields should be many times that given to their children by Shintoism and Guangzong.

In the process of imperial clan seizing land and occupying Wangzhuang extensively, a large number of farmers became tenants of Wangfuzhuang. No matter whether it is concentrated in Wangfuzhuang production or cultivated by one household, it bears heavy land rent exploitation and bears the servants of Wangfuzhuang. Because the imperial clan of the vassal king had greater feudal privileges, the tenant farmers in Wang Fu had stronger personal dependence. In particular, the "tenant-granting" and the tenants who are hidden or forced to vote for tenants are completely subordinate to Wang Fu and have been fixed on Wangzhuang from generation to generation. The relationship with Wang Fu is actually a feudal master-slave relationship.

Wang Fu wantonly raised land rent and excessive demands. For example, the Jiwangfu built in Changsha is an example: "At the beginning, I was afraid that the people would not obey, and I only received four cents of silver per mu ... Since Zhengde, I have added five cents and two cents of rent per mu, even the first nine cents and two cents. The staff responsible for collecting (flag) schools, they try their best to stir up fires, supply paper firewood, and so on. Some fools were cheated out of 35 cents a dollar, so they dared not do anything. From time to time, rent three buckets of grain per mu, and add two liters per bucket. People are afraid to keep cars in the warehouse, kick buckets in the shower head, add cushions and other items, and double them to embarrass them. They have to wait in the warehouse for a month and don't accept it, so they have to fill their food. " (62).

The palace brutally exploited the tenant farmers, which was a bit unsuccessful, that is, persecuted the tenant farmers. If Wang fails to increase the rent, tenant Wei Zhiying and citizen Gu Zeng will be killed by more than 200 family members and their houses will be burned down (63). In the forty-third year of Wanli, Fu Ban went to Ruzhou to collect rent, and received five points for each money. Because blackmail failed, tenant Lu was beaten to death "(64). These are just one or two examples of Wang Fu's many crimes of killing tenants and their families. The history book says: "The bureaucrats in the palace collect taxes and spend the afternoon on the road to support thousands of servants. This vicious fishing method is unbearable. Driving posts to catch people, robbing Zhuang Dian, where Sao Ran "(65). This is not only a scene in which Fu killed farmers, but also a microcosm of the persecution of farmers by suzerain landlords in various places.

Ming Daizong's exploitation and brutal persecution of the broad masses of working people fully exposed the decay, parasitism and cruelty of the royal landlords. They intensified the increasingly sharp class contradictions in the late feudal society. The development of suzerain-vassal land ownership also hindered the normal growth of capitalism in the late Ming Dynasty. The peasant uprising at the end of the Ming Dynasty was an unprecedented outbreak of class contradictions, and it was also a revolutionary torrent formed by farmers all over the country's long-term struggle against the landlord class such as the Ming court, governors, bureaucrats and gentry. The peasant uprising at the end of Ming dynasty promoted the struggle against suzerain and vassal in various places. In the summer of the sixteenth year of Chongzhen, the peasant army led by Zhang entered Hunan, and the people's uprising in Changsha responded, "ordered to leave" (66), and King Zhu Ci of Kyrgyzstan fled hastily (67). In the same year, an uprising of 10,000 people broke out in Wugang Prefecture, Huguang, and captured Wugang Prefecture, where Min Palace was located, and "arrested Min Wang, killed him in the palace and burned the palace" (68). In April of the following year, Zhu, the king of the horizontal dynasty who built a vassal in Qingzhou, Shandong Province, heard that Dashun peasant army had captured it, and was extremely frightened and tried to flee south. "If you close the city, you will be afraid that it will run away ... and you will not let go" (69). The peasant uprising army led by Li Zicheng and Zhang was directed at Ming Chengzu, at clans, officials, gentry and big landlords. Li Zicheng issued a proclamation, pointing out that the Ming court "benefited the gentry, and left the cream exhausted". The peasant uprising army galloped north and south, and in three years, it destroyed thirteen palaces, including Fu, Xiang, Hui, Chong, Chu, Ji, Qin, Su, Han, Jin, Dai, Rui and Shu, arrested and suppressed more than a dozen bloody and vicious princes, and some families were punished. This is a great liquidation of the royal big landlord group that has oppressed the people for more than 200 years.