>>13148426The first Ming Hongwu Emperor wrote down the dynastic rules of the royal family awarding fiefs to all his sons and nephew and regulating the titles of the cadet branches so the cadet branches of the cadet branches would receive miktsry titled like bulwark general defending the state.
They were placed at the northern, western and southern borders and controlled their own armies in their fiefdoms and the Prince of Ning Zhu Quan was even stationed in Inner Mongolia beyond the great wall.
All members of these cadet branches received state salaries in silver or rice or grain.
The Jianwen Emperor and his uncle Yongle who overthrew him gutted the military power of the Ming princes who were supposed to play an offensive role and personally lead fiefdoms at the northern and western borders.
Most of the princes were relocated to the interior and stripped of their armies as Zhu Quan was forced to go all the way to Jiangxi and his former fief was abandoned to Mongol allies of Yongle.
The imperial princely cadet branches them were totally removed and forbidden from all military roles and political roles and not aloes to serve as officials or military generals.
The Ming cadet branches gew exponentially so there wee eventually over 200,000 male Ming imperial family members by 1644, all of them drawing massive state salaries like parasites and not performing any military or political function.
The peasant rebels led by Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong looted the palaces and estates of the Ming princely cadet branches in the interior.
All the princely rebellions like the Jingnan campaign, Gaoxu rebellion, Prince of Anhua rebellion and Prince of Ning rebellion led to military power being stripped from the princes and they became parasites on the economy.
