In order to continue enjoying royal treatment, despite lacking real power, they would keep a close eye on local officials to prevent them from threatening the court, the royal family, or the status of these vassal kings.

After hearing Zhu Yunwen's words, Zhu Yuanzhang laughed heartily. Such a system of checks and balances, where one person has real power but is supervised, and the other has no real power but supervises the one who has real power, is indeed perfect.

This preserved the status of the vassal kings and also deterred them from harboring any thoughts of rebellion.

After all, he doesn't hold real power.

At the same time, in order to maintain their position as princes and ensure that the land still bears their surname, vassal kings would strictly supervise local officials.

In this way, those who are doing things are being supervised, and those who are supervising have no right to rebel, thus forming a virtuous cycle and a healthy balance, which will surely keep the local area stable.

"Great, that's wonderful! I knew you, Yunhu, would have a solution. This approach not only avoids reducing the power of the local vassal kings but also prevents them from holding real power, while still making good use of their value."

"To truly help the Ming Dynasty safeguard the realm and supervise local officials would be truly excellent. Doing so would also resolve a major worry of ours."

Zhu Yunwen also smiled and said:

"In that case, let's implement it this way. I will issue an order to the cabinet to come up with a plan."

If there are no problems and the process is completed smoothly, we'll issue the directive and implement it according to this system.

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and said:

“We have no objection. You, Grandson, can make the decision on this matter. We trust you.”

Zhu Yunwen also laughed heartily, but then Zhu Yuanzhang became serious and said:

"The first problem is solved. But the second problem that follows is also quite serious."

Zhu Yunwen immediately asked:

"What is the second question that Grandfather is referring to?"

Zhu Yuanzhang said:

"As we mentioned before, if things continue as they are now, and all our descendants are made kings, then in the first two generations there might only be a few dozen kings, but in the third or fourth generation there will be double that number."

If this trend continues, within a few generations, there will likely be hundreds of princes in the land. A prince's son will be a county prince, and a county prince's son will be a general who protects the country…

All the other descendants should be given titles and stipends, and allowed to enjoy all kinds of wealth and honor.

If this continues, hundreds of princes will have countless descendants, and the court will have to support thousands or even tens of thousands of members of the royal family with titles in the future...

With each generation increasing in size, the family will expand indefinitely. How can the royal family afford the expenses? Won't this bankrupt the court?

In fact, Zhu Yuanzhang had never considered this issue before, and although he had thought about it occasionally, he didn't care at all.

He felt that as a royal family, the Zhu family should have many descendants and spread throughout the world.

And they should enjoy a high and mighty status.

While such thinking may be somewhat selfish, he was the emperor, and there was nothing wrong with wanting his descendants, thousands or tens of thousands of people, to enjoy a good life.

However, after Zhu Yuanzhang obtained the History of Ming, he also saw that the Ming Dynasty was facing a serious financial crisis in its middle and later stages.

In just a few generations, the imperial family members who emerged had almost emptied the Ming Dynasty's treasury.

The people of the world are already struggling, and the government's finances are also in a tight spot.

In this situation, the imperial court, the people of the country, and even the local people had to support the princes of the Ming Dynasty who had been enfeoffed to various places.

Even princes, generals who protect the country, generals who assist the country, generals who serve the country, lieutenants who protect the country, lieutenants who assist the country, and lieutenants who serve the country.

It's easy to imagine how much pressure and burden that would be involved.

Although Zhu Yuanzhang did not know whether, with the current strength of the Ming Dynasty, it would be unable to support its descendants in the future.

However, the history of Ming does indeed record that the fall of the Ming Dynasty was related to these members of the imperial family squandering the country's wealth.

Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to raise this issue now, hoping to find a solution.

After pondering for a while, Zhu Yunwen also said to Zhu Yuanzhang:

"Indeed, although the Ming Dynasty is currently financially well-off, the number of members of the imperial family that need to be supported will only increase over time."

In particular, the current system of succession for titles of nobility among members of the imperial family will lead to an increasing number of princes in the future.

After all, every emperor has brothers. These brothers will all become princes in the future.

The number of princes is increasing, and their sons will inherit their princely titles, so the number will not decrease.

The other sons would become princes, and the princes would then be able to pass on their titles to their eldest sons.

In this way, the number of princes will not decrease, but will increase.

If this continues generation after generation, the number of these high-ranking members of the imperial family will indeed increase to hundreds or even thousands, and even the wealthiest country could not afford to support them.