As the Emperor's birthday drew closer, Zhao Minggeng's work became increasingly busy.

He had to perfectly persuade each of the vassal kings, otherwise, it could easily lead to a mutiny.

At that time, he deserved to die.

Even if the emperor is the mastermind behind this, he will still be the scapegoat at that time.

Therefore, Zhao Minggeng had to consider every aspect.

Finally, Zhao Minggeng discussed with the emperor that they couldn't just give him the sticks without giving him the sweet dates.

Over the years, some princes have indeed lived well, while others have lived quite poorly, since not all princes are good at managing their affairs.

Every family has a spendthrift son.

Should we offer them a trade route that would benefit the princes?

With the benefits secured, abolishing the fiefdoms shouldn't be so difficult to handle.

After discussion, a route was finally decided: to go west from the desert. As long as they could cross that desert and reach another country, they could start trade.

In the emperor's mind, the desert was so terrifying that those pampered princes would never be willing to take the risk; it was just a pie in the sky.

However, they overlooked these people's desire for money.

After nearly seven or eight years of desertification control and territorial expansion, the desert has been largely conquered under the governance of the Zhao family (father-in-law and son-in-law) and other officials.

In other words, turning a desert into an oasis is not a dream; it's already halfway to realizing that dream.

Even though right now all we see are trees, and grass can only survive under the roots, with these changes, there's no worry that it won't grow and thrive in the future.

With the Emperor's birthday approaching, the regional princes leisurely brought their legitimate sons and grandsons to the capital.

Because they had been away from the capital for many years and no longer owned any houses there, they were all moved into newly built government-run residential areas.

The furniture inside is made of ordinary wood, and the bedding, although all pure cotton, has exquisite patterns and looks very nice when matched.

It significantly upgraded the style of the small room.

Prince Rong was the late emperor's younger brother.

Since the late emperor ascended the throne, he had gone to his fiefdom and was not allowed to return to the capital without being summoned.

Now that I have the opportunity to come back and visit, I can't even care about my unwell condition. I made a special trip back from the southeast coast.

Fortunately, the Emperor's birthday was in the summer; otherwise, the old man really wouldn't have been able to withstand the fatigue of the journey.

Prince Rong was seven or eight years older than the Emperor. Although they were said to be uncle and nephew, they were practically brothers.

Naturally, upon seeing the Emperor, one would reminisce about the past.

He brought back his eldest son and his second grandson.

As members of the royal family, they were not allowed to participate in the imperial examinations, especially those who were princes with fiefdoms.

The child has no other chance to rise above his station except to inherit the throne.

But with so many descendants, there can only be one throne. If this one inherits, what will happen to the rest of the children?

We should always strive to give our children a better future.

Since the Emperor said he wanted to cultivate the royal family, even if they knew it was a pit of fire, they still wanted to try jumping in.

After the princes took their places, the emperor did not immediately summon any of them. Instead, he waited until the birthday banquet to formally invite all the royal relatives.

This was also the grandest birthday banquet ever held by the Emperor.

The number of people is more than three times that of previous years.

Naturally, the Emperor delivered a passionate and eloquent speech, expressing his great pleasure at having the opportunity to meet his relatives.

It expresses feelings of longing and gratitude.

For example, it is thanks to everyone's cooperation over the years that local stability and peace have been ensured, and so on.