After solving the troubles of the Maritime Association during the day, Zhu Youzhen summoned Wang Dehua, who was in charge of the capital governor, at night, and except for Lu Qi and Wang Chengen, everyone else in the study was sent out by Chongzhen.

Wang Chengen was thinking in his heart that the emperor summoned Wang Dehua at this time to discuss something important, but this mystery was quickly exposed by Chongzhen.

"Supervisor Wang, you come forward to tell me that this is the charter of the merger of the various yamen in the palace, and also let Wang Companion and Steward Lu consult and consult for me together."

Chongzhen's words suddenly frightened Wang Chengen and Lu Qi for a while, if it weren't for the habit they had developed on weekdays, it was estimated that they would lose their honor in front of the emperor this time.

Wang Dehua just glanced up at the two colleagues, and then skipped the two. In the past year, although the governor of the capital has been in power in the palace, he, the chief eunuch of the capital governor, is not as prominent as Wang Chengen and Lu Qi, and even less than the affairs of his subordinate Xu Shengsheng.

But today, looking at the faces of these two palace celebrities, he felt that his hard work in the past year was still worth it. He took a step forward lightly, and then saluted Chongzhen and said: "In the past, there were 24 yamen in the palace to manage the affairs of the inner court, and I wanted to have a special person in charge of it, so as to reduce all kinds of shortcomings in the palace.

But today, the 24 yamen want to meddle in everything, and as a result, many affairs in the palace are not to mention each other, and the new establishment of personnel in the institution has increased unabated. The bloated institutions of the inner court and the complexity of the personnel can be said to be a hundred times better than at the beginning of the country.

However, the personnel and yamen are more than 100 times more than at the beginning of the country, but the ability and efficiency of doing things are now less than one-tenth of what they used to be. Most of the annual expenditure in the palace is used to support a large group of idlers.

After last year's cutting, the number of chamberlains and palace maids in the palace has been reduced to 7,543 people, and the dozens of concubines who originally lived in the palace were not left with 12 people after receiving His Majesty's permission, plus His Majesty and 4 His Royal Highnesses, there are less than 20 nobles to serve in the palace.

However, the yamen still shouted all day long that there was a shortage of manpower and demanded that they be re-recruited, otherwise they would not be able to serve His Majesty and the nobles properly, which was obviously unreasonable.

His Majesty's daily service staff is only 36 people, but some stewards and eunuchs have also arranged 24 people to serve themselves, and if the stewards and eunuchs in the palace all follow their pomp, wouldn't the manpower that was cut last year be re-recruited soon.

Therefore, after carefully investigating the daily affairs of the 24 yamen, as well as the manpower arrangements of each yamen, the age of the personnel, and so on. The minister thought that the current 24 yamen should be merged and a unified body should be established to manage the affairs of the palace, so that the completely duplicative and useless institutions could be abolished, and the problem of disputes between the various yamen in the palace could be eliminated.

In addition, judging from the current affairs in the palace, there is actually no intersection between the affairs of the palace and the affairs outside the palace. Therefore, the minister thought that the palace and the palace should be divided into two departments.

For example, the eunuchs outside the palace who were in charge of the Wensi Academy and the stock exchange did not have much to do with the affairs of the palace. The only thing that has a connection is the profit from the workshops and companies they are in charge of, which is the main item of income in the palace.

However, after these ministers left the palace, because of their careers, they interacted with outsiders too frequently, and the people in contact were also complicated. None of us knows if there will be anyone who will disclose information about the palace for personal gain. The story of the Jianwen Dynasty in the past, we should always learn a lesson.

Of course, many businesses outside the palace are also the pillars of income in the palace, and the minister thought that it was impossible to hand them over to outsiders to manage. Therefore, the minister felt that after the 24 yamen was united, it should be divided into two parts: the inner and the outer parts. In the future, the palace will be in charge of the affairs of the palace, and the outside of the palace will be in charge of the industries outside the palace, and it will be enough for the palace to inspect the development of various projects outside the palace every year. ”

Wang Chengen was thinking about what Wang Dehua wanted to do when he proposed the merger of the 24 yamen, Zhu Youzhen had already said bluntly: "Then what are you going to name the two departments that manage the affairs inside and outside the palace?" ”

Wang Dehua was already ready, and quickly replied: "The one in charge of the affairs of the palace is called the Internal Affairs Office, and the one in charge of the affairs outside the palace is called the Foreign Affairs Office." The minister thought that the Foreign Affairs Office, except for some of the main stewards, could remove other people from the palace. In this way, even if they have any disputes outside the palace, they will not be able to blame His Majesty.

Those officials in the province are holding on to the palace industry every day and stirring up trouble everywhere. It seems that everyone who goes out in the palace has become a wicked person who bullies men and women. ”

Regarding Wang Dehua's name, Zhu Youzhen was noncommittal, but continued to ask: "How do you plan to set up the organs of the Internal Affairs Office?" ”

Wang Dehua was not in a hurry to answer, but took out a piece of paper from his arms, and then looked at the paper and read: "The minister thinks that this internal affairs office should be set up as, administration, personnel, finance, accounting, infrastructure, logistics, security, and warehouse eight departments, plus a foreign affairs office, that is, nine agencies, which is just the extreme..."

Wang Chengen listened to it on the side for a long time, and finally understood. This administration is to replace the position of the celebrant and the celebrant with a little less power. Mr. Wang may not be qualified to compete for the executive branch right now, but he clearly has a good idea of the power of the personnel department.

In the past, most of the personnel in the palace were arranged by the celebrant and the celebrant supervisor, or the emperor made a decision. However, according to this new institution, although the status of the celebrant has not changed, the power to monopolize the personnel in the palace can be regarded as completely handed over.

24 The number of yamen has been reduced to 9, and naturally many old people in the palace will lose their power and status. Wang Chengen was quite puzzled, why Wang Dehua was so bold and dared to take the risk of offending the old people in the palace to come up with this merger plan.

These old people in the palace have lived in the palace for decades, and they are very clear about the various doorways in the palace, if they really offend them, Wang Chengen does not think that Wang Dehua can avoid the plots of these old people in the palace.

"These departments are enough to deal with the immediate affairs of the palace, so what are you going to do with the extra personnel after the merger?" Zhu Youzhen listened to Wang Dehua's explanation of the setting of the Internal Affairs Office, and couldn't help but continue to ask.

"After the investigation of the ministers, many of the people who remain in the palace are too old, and it is difficult for them to even take care of their daily lives, so how can they serve His Majesty. The minister felt that he should follow last year's example and release a group of old people out of the palace, so that they could also go back to the countryside to retire. ”

Wang Chengen's brows jumped suddenly, he had figured it all out now. Wang Dehua wanted to drive those old people out of the palace, which was a solution to the problem, but it was too vicious.

Wang Dehua said it well, let these old people go back to their hometowns to care for the elderly. But these people have stayed in the palace all their lives, and there are still relatives in their hometown, and even if they do, there is no family affection. Except for a small number of old people who hold power and can save some savings for themselves, what savings do those old people at the bottom have?

Although Wang Chengen thought of this, he opened his mouth and finally didn't say it to the emperor. Since Chongzhen called Wang Dehua here, he was obviously inclined to this merger plan. And it is not a bad thing for him to be able to drive out of the palace those old people who rely on the old and sell the old. There is no need for him to hate Wang Dehua on this issue, and he will not be favored by Chongzhen.

Zhu Youzhen did not happily agree to this simple and direct way of dealing with it as Wang Chengen expected, but thought for a while before saying slowly: "Let them go back to the countryside to care for the elderly, God knows if anyone will provide for them."

These people basically served the emperor's grandfather, and they also worked for my Zhu family all their lives. Now that I'm old and can't do it anymore, I drive people back to the countryside, which is inevitably too mean.

I think it's right to go out of the palace to retire, after all, I've worked hard in the palace for so many years, and it's time to go out and enjoy the blessings, I can't just stay in the palace for the rest of my life.

The wind and sand in the north are too big, and it is better to go south of the Yangtze River. Whether it is Nanjing, Suzhou or Hangzhou, it is where the scenery is beautiful. Didn't Mr. Cao choose a few places with good scenery in Jiangnan to build a sanatorium last year? Let them go to the south to retire, and the required funds will come out of the inner treasury.

The governor and the superintendent will sum it up again, and everyone will set a pension standard, so don't be wronged by these old people who have contributed their lives to me and several emperors. When they officially retired, I personally entertained them once to thank them for their dedication to the royal family over the years. ”

Since Chongzhen is willing to take out the money from his pocket, how can Wang Dehua object. However, the emperor's words also moved the three people present. They are also members of the inner chamberlain, and although they still hold power, who knows what will happen in the future.

With this precedent of being able to go to Jiangnan for the elderly, it gave them a guarantee of retreating, and they were naturally very welcome.

Zhu Youzhen didn't seem to be satisfied with this, he thought for a while and continued: "In the future, there will also be a rule in the palace, and all chamberlains or palace maids who have served the royal family for 30 years can submit a request for retirement.

Each retiree is given an appropriate retirement annuity according to his or her pre-retirement grade until his or her death. In addition, men must retire until the age of 60 and women until the age of 55, unless there are special circumstances.

Women in the palace who are over 30 years old, or have served in the palace for 10 years, can request to leave the palace to return home, or to live outside the palace. Let Xu Xingsheng rebuild a house near Miyagi, and assign it to these palace maids who go out to live when the time comes..."

Whether it was Wang Chengen or the other two, they were very happy with the policies that Chongzhen said. No matter how you look at it, this is the emperor's good governance of the palace personnel.

When they were nodding their heads again and again, Zhu Youzhen paused, and then continued to ask Wang Dehua, "Have you made any adjustments to the rank in the palace?" ”

Wang Dehua immediately replied in a loud voice: "Yes, the minister divided the lowest-level palace maids and chamberlains to the head of the internal affairs office, and there were a total of 17 levels in the middle.

According to the adjustment of posts every two years, theoretically it only takes 34 years to go from the bottom to the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The original separation of posts between chamberlains and palace maids has now been abolished.

With the exception of a few special departments, as long as they are within the same department, there is no longer a division between men and women..."