Stern cabin.

Zhang Chao and his old friend Ke Qing were chatting. The former shadow helmsman has retired. For some time, he had been busy with his Yunnan fiefdom, cooperating with the imperial court's battle against Aragan.

"I heard you made a fortune in war?" Zhang Chao said to Ke Qing with a smile.

"Just make a small move." Ke Qing was once the helmsman of Shadow and has always served as Zhang Chao's guard commander. Ke Qing was quite sensitive to intelligence. Moreover, although Shadow has been split now, his daughter is still the commander of the Flying Cavalry. Even Ke Xiongfa, the commander of the Jinyiwei, was also his old subordinate and his nephew.

The court had been trying to use troops to Arakan before, so he had certainly grasped this news. Ke Qing's fiefdom was east of Arakan, separated by a Naga Mountain Range. The war was coming, and it might have been a disaster for his fiefdom.

But Ke Qing used this news to turn the crisis into an opportunity.

Ke Qing accumulated a lot of commodity materials in advance, and then waited for the battlefield to sell them to the passing troops. He also negotiated an agreement with the Chinese army to cooperate with the army to buy the spoils seized after the army captured Alagan. These spoils purchased from the army were not expensive. Although they had to be transported and sold by themselves, the profit was extremely high.

Then, some supplies were provided to the army, and Ke Qing made two money once and forth. Not to mention, he also took the opportunity to buy many Alagan's houses, shops, and land. During the war, these things were very cheap. Before the situation was unclear, everyone did not want to buy these on the battlefield, but Ke Qing bought them.

The war ended quickly as he expected. Alagan, who was originally a powerful country, quickly collapsed and perished before Dahua's expedition.

Ke Qing's investment also received great returns. He sold many industries he bought during the war and made a lot of money. Then he bought many prisoners as slaves and built a road between his fiefdom and Alagan. This road also applied for subsidies from the military, because after the road was repaired, the military made much more convenient for the military to go from Yunnan to Alagan.

Ke Qing built several small shopping towns along this road. Through investment, he rented shops and houses in Shang Town, sold the land next to him, and repaired warehouses, etc., which made a lot of money quickly.

"In fact, these little tricks I learned when I was with His Majesty, but I only learned some basic skills."

"Your fiefdom was very clever. Your fiefdom was extremely remote. But this time, taking advantage of this war, you not only made war money and accumulated a lot of money, but also took the opportunity to develop your fiefdom, build roads, and build commercial towns, making your fief popular, and have more business travel, more business opportunities, more taxes, and even more population. In just one year, you have even surpassed the development effect of other people's fiefdoms for ten years."

There are many vassals in Dahua now, and there are more than 10,000 registered vassals in the aristocratic court, most of whom are low-level nobles such as Barons and Viscount.

Although there are many nobles, although the nobles in Dahua have fiefs, the small ones of ten miles and the large ones of thousands of miles, not many have truly developed.

The fiefs of most nobles are on the distant frontiers and are very remote. Even if they have been granted for more than ten years, there are only one or two villages, and they are still losing money in it.

A fiefdom that can be managed well is either fertile in the territory, or has a large amount of mineral resources, or is located on major transportation routes and commercial roads. Fifths like Ke Qing are originally very remote.

But Ke Qing took advantage of a war and in just one year, the fiefdom changed a lot.

"How many people are there in the fiefdom now?"

"There are more than 18,000 registered residents, and there are also thousands of registered temporary residences. In addition, since the imperial court conquered Alagan, there are many military, civilian and businessmen who have passed through my fiefdom, which has driven rapid development."

"Your road is well built, but without that road, there will definitely be no results like this now. You have built a road first, and the military will give you some subsidies. They borrowed your road and saved time and some money, which is a win-win situation. This road will not only bring you some subsidies, but also bring you a lot of people and business opportunities."

Who would have thought that Ke Qing, who was once a top assassin, has now become such a shrewd and calculating lord.

"That road was built at the beginning, and it cost a lot of money, but it was really worth it. Through this road, my fiefdom was connected to the main road from Yunnan to Alagan. After crossing the Naga Mountains, my fiefdom not only leads directly to Alagan, but also reaches Yongji Port. This has transformed my fiefdom from a remote and remote place to a place not far from the bustling harbor."

Speaking of this, Ke Qing was actually quite proud. After years of experience with the emperor, he was influenced by many influences and learned a lot of things. These things are not obvious at ordinary times, but they have completely changed his way of thinking.

"Teacher, I am very happy to see your fiefdom have developed so much. I hope that my ministers can also have their own family business, so that their descendants can inherit from generation to generation. You and I will be the ruler and ministers for generations, and our descendants will be the ruler and ministers for generations."

The fundamental purpose of the feudal system is indeed the same.

The princes divided the borders and opened up colonies in those remote border areas to conquer the foreign barbarians and educated them for the court. The court gave the princes the most powerful support and solid support, so that they could conquer and explore without worries.

In turn, the princes put the imperial court and guarded the border.

They complement each other, and the royal family ruled the Central Plains, while the princes divided the four borders and inherited each other from generation to generation.

This is the most ideal state.

It is not easy for the princes to conquer the foreign races on the frontier, manage their fiefs well, and even become stronger. It may take hundreds of years. Before they have strong strength, it can be said that the relationship between the court and the princes will be very harmonious because they need each other.

What Zhang Chao and his descendants need to do is to prevent the princes from being too strong, and strictly prohibit them from attacking and annexing other princes. Even when they are developing outside, they must be extremely careful. The new foreign lands that the princes have developed cannot be simply handed over to the princes.

The princes must hand over most of the newly conquered land to the court, at least two-thirds of the newly conquered land to the court, and the remaining one-third belongs to them. And these one-third cannot be directly given to the prince, but must use the method of giving grace to enfeoff the new fief to other sons besides his eldest son.

In this way, his original fiefdom was naturally inherited by his heirs, but the newly developed fiefdom was handed over to other sons, not only to one person.

Although the land that was developed in this way was still from these princes, it was divided into several fiefs that were not subordinate to each other. After several generations, the relationship between these fiefs would definitely not be closely together.

In addition, the court must disperse and disrupt the original fiefs of the princes and the newly developed fiefs, and intertwined to avoid the fiefs of a family being connected.

At the beginning of the founding of Dahua, it actually had only been granted five thousand princes, but now it has exceeded ten thousand. In a few years, the princes have doubled, but Zhang Chao was not worried, because although there were many princes, few of them were very strong.

There are only a few princes who have fiefs of more than a hundred miles, and Zhang Chao is still planning to give them favors. After the old cadres die, Zhang Chao plans to divide the family for them and divide a fief into several pieces. Although the eldest son can inherit his father's title, some fiefs must be divided for other brothers.

Although it is not necessary for brothers to divide evenly, one generation will split a part of it. After several generations, a country with a fiefdom of hundreds of miles may be left in the end, and it will not be able to threaten the court.

Zhang Chao didn't want the territories that the princes had too large. As for their wealth, Zhang Chao was not too worried. The princes had some money to make the fiefdom richer, but no matter how rich the fiefdom was, if the territory was limited, it would not be able to carry too much population.

Without a population, it is actually impossible to comprehensively improve comprehensive strength. From a young age, there are few soldiers and few taxes. In the larger part, there are few resources and few power.

The princes were all rich, but the court was still happy to see it.

"Ke Qing, don't be afraid. You have been with me for many years and have been by my side for so long, and you know my thoughts. I don't care about the money you make, as long as you make money well. Normally, I support it by making money by operating and making money."

"This peaceful country was built together. I hope everyone can enjoy this wealth and peace together. Even if you have money, you can make money and manage your fiefdoms, build castles and manors, build schools and hospitals, build roads, cultivate land and farm land, guard the borders for the court, educate the barbarians, and let them naturalize them into Dahua. I can't even like such princes, and I will never care about you doing these."

Some emperors are most afraid of their subordinates doing good deeds, and are worried that they will win people's hearts. Even in the disaster year, someone may be charged with buying people's hearts and making mistakes.

The more meritorious the ministers are, the less they dare to have a good reputation. In order to protect themselves, some people have to think of themselves, such as embezzling and forcing land to occupy, etc., in fact, they are just to protect themselves for themselves.

But Zhang Chao wanted to tell Ke Qing that there was no need to do this in Dahua.

Don’t stretch out some hands that should not be stretched out, and don’t care about things that should not be taken care of. If you are recruited in the court, then serve as a director. If you are in the fiefdom, you should manage your own fiefdom well, and educate the people of the fiefdom well. The better you do, the more you will be loved by the fiefdom people. In fact, the happier the emperor will be.

After all, the vassals manage the border areas on behalf of the emperor.

If the vassals do well, the court will certainly be supported by the people. As for the vassals who have a good reputation, they will threaten the court. Zhang Chao is not afraid. Only a vassal can possess that little territory and the people can have that little territory.

On the contrary, the princes managed the border fiefdoms for the court, and the court also avoided many hidden dangers.
Chapter completed!