"Your Highness, please see if this thing is cooked. I don't understand!"

Zhu Cixi squeezed the potatoes with his hands and found that the potatoes were very soft. He nodded and handed two potatoes to the old man. The last potato was handed to Zhou Yuji so that Zhou Yuji could try it too.

"It should be done. Grandpa, please peel the potatoes and try them. How do they taste?"

The old man took the potato and put it in his mouth. By the time Zhu Cihong finished speaking, he had already swallowed the potato:

"It's delicious. The noodles are delicious. It's also very convenient. You can cook it in water and eat it..."

Zhou Yuji also finished a potato in two or three mouthfuls, and his mouth was squeaking and his eyes were shining:

"Your Highness, this can be used as military rations. It is very convenient to cook and carry with you to fight..."

Zhu Cixi nodded:

"It's not mature yet and should grow to the size of an egg. I will consider collecting some in the future."

"Crown Prince Chitose, you are busy, the common people have gone home!"

The old man wiped away his tears in a hurry, kowtowed to Zhu Cihong and prepared to go home. Zhu Cihong smiled and said:

"Since I'm a guest in the military camp, I can't go back empty-handed. I weigh 20,000 rice for the uncle and take it back to eat!"

Zhu Cixiang told the Huotou Army and took Yue Yang and Hu Bao back to the carriage...

Huotoujun served the old man a large bowl of rice, and gave him three pieces of pork and some vegetables. The old man had not eaten meat for more than ten years. When he saw the three pieces of pork on the rice, he was so excited that he shed tears again...

Zhu Cihong didn't do anything special. He ate the same food as the soldiers. The only difference was that he had a dining table on his carriage, so he didn't have to squat outside to eat.

The food in the army was good, including rice and steamed buns, as well as meat, broth, and vegetables. Zhu Cihong ate them with gusto.

Seeing the crown prince eating a pot of rice with them, the soldiers were so moved that their eyes turned red and secretly vowed to be loyal to the crown prince. Zhu Cihong once again gained military morale after a meal.

After having lunch and resting for an hour, the army broke up camp and continued on their way, passing Zhaozhou and entering Guangping Prefecture, which was later known as Handan.

Find a place to camp in Guangping Prefecture for one night, have breakfast early the next morning and continue on the road, entering Zhangde Prefecture in Henan Province before lunch.

Zhu Cixiang was in a good mood along the way. At least the fields were green at first glance. When he came last time, they were deserted, and there were many corpses of homeless people on the roadside.

Before dark, the army entered Weihui, which was the fiefdom of King Lu. There were not many sweet potatoes here, and at least half of the fields were planted with wheat.

The wheat fields were sparse and yellow, and it was difficult to guarantee a harvest if the drought continued. Zhu Cixiang knew that this must be King Lu's land, and Li Yan would not let the people grow wheat in such a drought.

Sooner or later, Zhu Cixiang would take action against these vassal kings. At present, Zhu Cixiang knew that it was not appropriate to deal with the vassal kings as the crown prince, especially these princes.

The vassal princes of the Ming Dynasty were divided into two classes, one was the prince, and the other was the county prince. In terms of number, the princes were not actually that many.

In the third year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang named his sons the first batch of vassal kings.

In the 14th year of Chongzhen, Emperor Chongzhen granted his two sons King Ding and King Yong, a total of 67 princes.

However, some of these princes were young and did not actually go to the vassal land to establish a kingdom, and some were deposed because they had no children or were guilty midway.

By the end of the Ming Dynasty, there were actually only 28 princes still in existence. To be honest, 28 princes in more than 270 years is not that many.

The main problem of vassal kings in the Ming Dynasty was that there were too many princes.

The regulations of the Ming Dynasty were that as long as they were the sons of princes, except for the eldest son who inherited the title of prince, other sons could basically be granted the title of county prince.

After Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty, he strictly restricted the political activities of the vassal kings, and then tried his best to satisfy their enjoyment in life.

Therefore, the princes really have nothing to do except give birth to children at home. Zhang Dai, a talented scholar in the late Ming Dynasty, said:

"I understand that since the reign of Emperor Jingnan, the system of the royal family has become more stringent and stricter. Among the kings, there is not even one who is good at reading and good at books. However, those who like to drink good wine and be close to women will be called virtuous kings, so they will be rewarded

That’s it!”

After having enough food and wine, they went to bed. The princes of the Ming Dynasty were extremely capable of giving birth to sons.

In this way, the scale of the princes was very large. By the end of the Ming Dynasty, there were more than 600 princes, distributed all over the country.

In the late Ming Dynasty, there were at least more than 200,000 princes, princes and their children.

Therefore, the money spent to support the vassal king in the late Ming Dynasty was sky-high, and the court could not afford it.

During the Tianqi period at the end of the Ming Dynasty, someone calculated an account for the court. It was found that a total of 3.96 million shi had to be paid to support the vassal king and his children.

However, the total national land tax revenue that year was only 2.57 million shi, which means that just to solve the food problem of the feudal princes, the imperial government's fiscal deficit would be as high as 43%.

In fact, the imperial court can no longer support these people, and it is common for them to be in arrears with wages.

Therefore, the princes in the late Ming Dynasty were very wealthy after more than two hundred years of accumulation, but life was not easy for the princes and princes below.

Because the imperial court was simply unable to pay them Lumi in time and in full.

Zhu Cixiang wanted to govern the Ming Dynasty well, but the issue of vassal kings was definitely a hurdle he couldn't overcome.

The last time they passed by Prince Lu's Mansion, Zhu Cihong and the Emperor did not disturb them, but this time Zhu Cihong wanted to see how luxurious Prince Lu's Mansion was.

"Send the order, the army will camp five miles outside Prince Lu's Mansion. I will stay overnight at Prince Lu's Mansion tonight!"
Chapter completed!