Zhu Youzhen has studied mechanics, and of course knows that the three-legged tripod is the most stable form of an object. And now there are only eunuchs and guards in the court and the civil official system to compete, and he, the emperor, is equivalent to walking a tightrope in the sky, if he can't master the balance, he will inevitably fall into the abyss with the Ming Dynasty.

However, before he could find a third power to balance the situation, he could only first rectify the inner court that he could control. That is, to prevent their power from growing too fast, leading to a situation where the tail is too big to fall. It can't be weakened too much, and it is completely suppressed by the civil officials of the foreign courts, resulting in the imperial power not being able to leave the palace walls.

Several eunuchs around Zhu Youzhen, such as: Wang Chengen, Wang Dehua, Xu Yingyuan, Zhang Yixian, Tang Wenzheng, Wang Yingchao, Feng Yuansheng, Deng Xishao, Lu Jiude, Fang Yizheng and others, were all sent by him to be responsible for an internal court yamen investigation, and he also found several maids from the palace to investigate the living conditions of the palace maids.

Compared with the vast scale of the 24 yamen, although there are many palace maids, the management organization is very simple.

After several days of investigation, Zhu Youzhen also had a preliminary impression of the number of people in the Forbidden City, there were about 10,000 eunuchs and about 9,000 palace maids.

Compared with the eunuchs, there are still a few people who can enter the power of the celebrant and the civil officials of the foreign courts, and most of the palace maids are unknown, and when they are old and decrepit, they are assigned to the Huanyi Bureau outside the palace to wash clothes until they die.

After entering the palace at the age of 13, the palace maids could no longer leave the Forbidden City, and in order to protect the emperor's privacy, they were unable to write letters to their families. The most criticized thing is that because of the need to isolate the inside and outside, the palace girls below the palace concubine will be thrown into the peace hall in the beekeeping corridor after they get sick, leaving them to fend for themselves. And the cruelty of the palace maid's punishments such as "lifting the bell", "pier lock", and "boarding" is completely unacceptable to Zhu Youzhen, a person from later generations.

Zhu Youzhen looked at this young palace maid who spoke and told the various shortcomings of the palace maid system in a coherent manner. I couldn't help but ask with great feeling: "What's your name, where are you from?" Have you ever read a book, I think you do things very well? ”

"Little maid Lin Xiang'er, a native of Huzhou, Zhejiang, only knows a few words, and I dare not say that I have read a book." The maid, who had a doctor to treat her because King Xin opened his mouth, and finally picked up her life, replied to Zhu Youzhen with gratitude.

"Huzhou? I heard that the rice dumplings and water chestnuts there are very good. Zhu Youzhen said casually. Thank you Your Majesty for the compliment, this is the specialty of the little maid's hometown. Lin Xiang'er responded with some joy.

Zhu Youzhen smiled, he wasn't talking about Huzhou in the Ming Dynasty. When Zhu Youzhen wanted to order Shang Gong, who was in charge of managing the affairs of the palace maids, and Gong Zheng, who was in charge of the punishment of the palace maids, to be called. It suddenly occurred to him that this seemed to exceed the queen's authority, and if he acted beyond the queen every time, it might make everyone in the palace look down on Zhou Yufeng, the queen, and then cause unnecessary speculation among some people.

So Zhu Youzhen quickly changed his words and said, "It's okay, you can go with me to meet the queen." ”

The Empress of the Apocalypse had already moved to Ciqing Palace at this time, and Zhou Hou moved into Kunning Palace, which was behind the Qianqing Palace where Zhu Youzhen lived.

Zhu Youzhen only walked a few steps away, and Kunning Palace was talking to Tian and Yuan after Zhou. After seeing Zhu Youzhen's arrival, Tian and Yuan, who hadn't seen Zhu Youzhen for many days, were a little happy, but Zhou Hou was a little puzzled.

Because Zhu Youzhen couldn't get close to women during the state funeral, and Zhu Youzhen, who had always been courteous, had never stepped into her Kunning Palace. Seeing Zhu Youzhen come over with a little maid, this made Zhou Hou a little uncomfortable.

After Zhu Youzhen and Tian and Yuan talked a few words, they motioned for the three of them to sit down and listen to Lin Xiang'er's investigation report on the palace maids.

"The concubine is guilty of negligence, please punish Your Majesty." After all, it has only been a few days since she took over the harem, and she is not even familiar with the faces of several female officials, after all, she does not have the life experience of Zhu Youzhen.

Seeing that Zhou Hou pleaded guilty to Zhu Youzhen, Tian Xiuying and Yuan Zhaorong also knelt down behind them with interest.

Zhu Youzhen hurriedly helped the three of them up, and then said to Zhou Yufeng: "I asked you to listen to this, not to ask you about the crime, I was thinking that we couldn't control the affairs in the palace before, but in the future, things can't go on like this." ”

"What does Your Majesty mean?" Zhou Yufeng was a little unsure of her husband's intentions. Zhu Youzhen walked back and forth in the hall for a few steps, re-examined what he wanted to do, and then organized the language and said: "This kind of corporal punishment against palace maids must be canceled, and you must be punished for doing something wrong, but it can't become torture, as for how to punish it, it is better for the three of you to refer to it together." ”

After Zhou Yufeng, Tian and Yuan looked at each other, they immediately agreed. Then Zhu Youzhen continued: "There are also those who are sick below the palace concubines and cannot leave the palace for treatment, and this article must also be changed..."

"Your Majesty, this can't be changed. It is forbidden for palace maids to enter and leave the palace gate, but it is strictly forbidden to prevent chaos. And the doctor can prescribe the medicine according to the problem, and there is no need for face-to-face diagnosis. Zhou Yufeng obviously did not agree with Zhu Youzhen's proposal, after all, she was the queen in charge of the six palaces, if there was really a matter of fornication in the palace, she, the queen, would be the first to carry the black pot.

After thinking about it, Zhu Youzhen understood what Zhou Yufeng was afraid of. The corner of his eye swept over Tian Xiuying and Yuan Zhaorong behind Zhou Yufeng, and found that one of them was a little confused, and the other was looking at the ground with his eyes and didn't want to get involved.

Zhu Youzhen looked at Lin Xiang'er, who was nervous with wide eyes behind him, and finally backed down and said: "Then add an internal medicine bureau outside the sixth bureau to be in charge of the palace maids' medical treatment, select some clever palace maids and internal supervisors, and invite the doctors of the Tai Hospital to give them lectures." Let's turn the peace house into an inner hospital for the treatment of sick palace ladies. If you want to study medicine, you must first learn to read and write. The queen can choose the eunuch who graduated from the inner study hall, and the palace maid who is fluent in literature and ink in the palace, to teach everyone in the palace to read and write, and do not require them to treat the four books and five classics, but at least to be able to understand the article, and then take those who are interested in studying medicine and enter the hospital. What do you think, Queen? ”

Zhou Yufeng is not disgusted with teaching palace maids and chamberlains to learn medicine and literacy, she also knows that Zhu Youzhen is a little temperamental, if he opposes it again, maybe he will directly bypass himself to do these things.

However, she immediately raised her eyes and saw the little palace maid who was blushing with excitement behind Zhu Youzhen, and she immediately thought of an idea.