The Emperor Emeritus's birthday banquet was, for many, a major event in the imperial court. On such a joyous occasion, it naturally drew considerable attention. Such a moment, naturally, also meant that many important court matters and future directions would become clearer.

Many people realized the situation at this point; for example, it was obvious that the power of the regional military governors was being reduced. Many breathed a sigh of relief, no longer needing to ponder anything further; the matter was clear.

Previously, it was only known that Emperor Yingshi disliked princes being enfeoffed, and many people had also heard that Emperor Yingshi had long intended to relocate the princes within the Ming Dynasty to neighboring vassal states to establish their own kingdoms. Now, it seems that this is indeed the case; there will be no more princes within the Ming Dynasty.

In fact, it wasn't just the princes of the Ming Dynasty who lost their fiefdoms; the only prince in the Ming Dynasty with a fiefdom, the Prince of Jingjiang, also lost his fiefdom.

As the grandson of Zhu Wenzheng and the son of Zhu Shouqian, Zhu Zanyi was far more law-abiding than his father and grandfather. However, he could no longer return to Guilin, and he no longer had any fiefdom.

The Ming Dynasty princes, who were granted fiefdoms in name only, appeared to be similar to the imperial family members in the Tang Dynasty who also received fiefdoms in name only. In reality, as everyone could see, it was merely a nominal fiefdom, a way to give these princes a certain prestige.

Everyone was happy, Zhu Yunying thought. Since he was the emperor, if he was happy, everyone else should be happy too.

In reality, neither the government nor the public found the reduction of the power of the regional military governors particularly strange; many people had long been aware of it.

It seems that some of the princes have completely given up on their ambitions, and their last shred of hope has been shattered. For these members of the imperial family, it's best not to think that they're far from the emperor's reach; they should just enjoy their prestigious imperial status.

Zhu Yunying was actually quite happy about this. Consider the historical Zhu Yunwen, who effectively stripped the empire of its power by reducing the number of princes, shifting the throne from the eldest son's line to the fourth son's line—it was simply outrageous.

In reality, even without Emperor Zhu's help, Zhu Yunying wouldn't have faced that much difficulty in reducing the power of the princes. Besides his personal abilities and prestige, Zhu Yunying increasingly felt that reducing the power of the princes required certain methods. In fact, given the current emperor's power, as long as he didn't keep making mistakes, reducing the power of the princes wouldn't be too difficult.

After all, while the princes of the Ming Dynasty may have some power, their power was incomparable to that of the princes of the Western Han Dynasty; the difference was enormous.

In fact, the reduction of the power of the princes seems to be a matter of concern for the Ming Dynasty. Many people who are concerned about the country and its people believe that reducing the power of the princes will definitely be a good thing for the long-term stability of the court, and they are happy about it.

However, for many people, the matter of vassal kings is actually quite distant and doesn't seem to be closely related to their lives. This matter doesn't seem to have a significant impact on their lives.

However, the emergence of that so-called Royal Bank has made it seem that many rumors cannot be quelled at all, and instead, they are intensifying at this time.

Pawnshops, money exchanges, and the like existed not only in the Ming Dynasty but also in other dynasties. And now, it seems the imperial court is also involved.

In some people's eyes, that so-called bank was simply a combination of a money exchange and a pawnshop. Because it was backed by the imperial court, it could arrogantly demand payment in paper money at this time.

Some people felt that the imperial court was too greedy, constantly interfering in the affairs of merchants, which was a constant struggle for profit with the people, and had already affected the interests of many people.

Some wealthy merchants had long harbored resentment towards the imperial court, and this could be considered a small outburst of that resentment.

At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Hongwu suppressed merchants extensively. This led many merchants to miss the former Yuan Dynasty, whose so-called tyrannical rule, while losing popular support and causing widespread suffering, benefited many large merchants and powerful families. Many of the Yuan Dynasty's policies, however, aligned with their interests.

After all, during the Yuan Dynasty, many policies did not curb land annexation, and many policies did indeed allow some powerful families or merchants to accumulate more and more wealth.

But now, the Ming Dynasty emperors' 'suppression' of merchants has become increasingly severe, and many people feel that they are about to completely lose the opportunity to continue to grow.

In his early years, Emperor Hongwu was tyrannical and ruthless, causing many wealthy families in Jiangnan to be ruined and killed. The court also discarded him after he had served his purpose. In the past, the court was unable to transport some supplies to the border garrisons, so it had the "open market" system, but now the court had abolished it.

This is a huge loss for many people, as the salt monopoly system could bring them considerable profits. But now that the salt monopoly system has been abolished, opportunities for collusion between officials and merchants have been lost, and their chance to make a fortune through salt permits has simply disappeared.

Furthermore, many merchants were naturally very dissatisfied with the imperial court's firm control over the Maritime Trade Office. They did not want to be merely a supplier or a downstream seller for the Maritime Trade Office; they wanted to control all trade channels.

But right now, they simply don't have that opportunity. The imperial court is not only severely cracking down on private ships going to sea, but also imposing strict requirements on the goods and other items traded at sea.

All of this will naturally infringe upon the interests of many people, which will naturally cause dissatisfaction among many people. This is all perfectly normal.

Since the imperial court is so domineering, it's natural that some individuals are now eager to teach it a lesson. No matter how domineering Emperor Hongwu was, or how greedy Emperor Yingshi was, he couldn't prevent certain things from happening.

This chapter is not finished, please click the next page to continue reading!