In fact, Zhu Yuanzhang's worries were not without reason, even though the Ming Dynasty at that time was much stronger than the Ming Dynasty recorded in the History of Ming.

However, some things are simply unavoidable. Even the wealthiest and most developed country can have too many idle people, all of whom enjoy high-level treatment.

Sooner or later, their numbers will multiply and drag the dynasty down.

The Ming Dynasty could afford to support a few hundred princes, but what about a few thousand, tens of thousands, or even more?

so.

This problem must be avoided.

Zhu Yunwen understood this principle very well, just as Zhu Yuanzhang had read the history of the Ming Dynasty and was able to understand it.

Zhu Yunwen himself was a time traveler, and the reason why the Ming Dynasty in history perished was inseparable from the financial crisis in its middle and later stages.

The financial crisis was not only caused by the exploitation of the people by interest groups and their drain on the government, but also by excessive spending and the support of too many idle people.

Not only were there many officials in the imperial court and local government, but there were also too many members of the imperial clan.

The root of all these problems lies in the feudal system of the Ming Dynasty.

Or rather, it appeared in the succession of royal titles during the Ming Dynasty.

In the Ming Dynasty, the eldest son of a prince had the right to inherit the throne, while the other sons were all princes of the same rank.

The title of Prince of the Second Rank also followed the principle of primogeniture, with the other sons receiving a lower rank, resulting in a total of ten ranks.

In addition, every son of the emperor other than the crown prince was also granted the title of prince.

As time went on, the number of princes in the Zhu family increased.

These princes' activities were subject to certain restrictions. They could only stay in their fiefdoms and were not allowed to leave at will. They were also not permitted to engage in commercial activities. Moreover, their living expenses were funded by the imperial court, so they could be said to be carefree.

Therefore, they would try their best to have many descendants to ensure that their branch of the family had a large number of offspring and could inherit more titles.

As a result, the number of vassal kings gradually increased, leading to a continuous expansion of the Ming Dynasty's fiscal expenditures.

The descendants of the princes were increasing, and all of them had titles, which resulted in a heavy burden of servants.

Besides the fact that the imperial court needed to support these people, in some local areas, some princes were annexing large amounts of land within their fiefdoms, resulting in a decrease in the number of self-cultivating farmers.

The common people either became refugees or tenant farmers.

This had a significant impact on the Ming Dynasty's fiscal revenue and social order.

In short, this system of vassal kings turned all the blood relatives of the Zhu family into parasites on the Ming Dynasty.

Moreover, they are powerful and influential parasites who can act recklessly in the local area.

These people not only do not share the burden of the court, do not do anything for the court, but also waste the court's food and money, and exploit the people in the local areas.

With so many descendants, if even a few bad ones emerge, it will be a bad thing for the people.

It seems that Zhu Shuang brought disaster to Xi'an, causing widespread suffering among the people of the entire Xi'an prefecture.

This threat led Zhu Yuanzhang to question whether the system of succession for princes he had created was flawed.

In fact, Zhu Yunwen had considered this issue before, and now that Zhu Yuanzhang had brought it up himself, Zhu Yunwen naturally took this opportunity to resolve it.

Previously, the concern was that these regional princes wielded too much power in their localities and were prone to rebellion, so some of their power was stripped away to create a system of checks and balances between them and local officials.

The problem has been solved.

Now, with the number of imperial descendants increasing, potentially leading to a situation where the court cannot afford it, Zhu Yunwen has a solution.

So Zhu Yunwen began to speak:

"I think this problem can be solved from two aspects."

Zhu Yuanzhang immediately asked which two aspects.

Zhu Yunwen said:

"First, we need to restrict these members of the royal family from having too many children. So there must be a rule that they cannot have too many wives and concubines."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded upon hearing this and said:

"This is indeed a good idea. If we allow them to marry wives and concubines at will, the more women they have, the more offspring they will have."

Zhu Yunwen said, "That's right, so I think the court should implement a monogamous system."

Zhu Yunwen's proposal of monogamy immediately surprised Zhu Yuanzhang.

He immediately said, "One husband and one wife? Only marrying one? Although we should restrict them from marrying, they used to have three wives and four concubines. Now it's just one wife. Isn't that a bit too harsh?"

Zhu Yunwen was, after all, a time traveler, and in the society of that later era, monogamy was indeed the norm.

So Zhu Yunwen said:

"Only by using such strong measures can we restrict these royal children from having children indiscriminately."

Moreover, people should naturally aspire to a better and happier life. Sometimes having multiple wives and concubines in the family is not necessarily a good thing; on the contrary, it can lead to disharmony, jealousy, and so on.

I believe our Zhu family is quite monogamous, therefore I suggest that each member of the imperial family should only marry one wife, thus implementing family planning restrictions within the imperial family.

Zhu Yuanzhang initially disagreed a little, but when he heard Zhu Yunwen say that the Zhu family members were all quite devoted, he immediately smiled.

He had to admit this.

He himself loved Empress Ma very much throughout his life.

His sons are also very devoted to their partners.

Even the cruel King Zhu Shuang of Qin only loved one concubine, Consort Deng.

For example, Prince Yan, Zhu Di, only liked Consort Xu, and the previous Crown Prince, Zhu Biao, also loved Lady Chang, the mother of Zhu Yunwen, deeply.

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