Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Because it involved the adjustment of the entire inner court, in addition to the palace offices such as the Silijian and the Yumajian, the outer palace offices such as the Shanglinyuanjian, the Qintianjian, and the Imperial Medical Service also participated in the meeting.

Even the Jinyiwei came to attend the meeting in the name of Jinyiwei Supervisor.

Zhu Youjian asked Wang Chengen to announce the palace personnel diversion plan that he had discussed with him before, and said to all the inner court officials:

"My previous idea was to put all these self-financing institutions into the Imperial Household Supervision Bureau."

"But the Shangshangjian and Shangyijian have different opinions, so let's discuss it again!"

Zou Yi, the seal holder of the Imperial Kitchen, was the person who had followed Emperor Taichang in the palace the longest, and could be considered one of the most senior people in the palace.

Even if Wang Chengen was favored, he was not good enough in front of him. He naturally didn't care about Wang Chengen's thoughts and said directly:
"I think that the personnel assigned to the various prisons outside the palace should be under the jurisdiction of their respective prisons."

"This way, we can summon them to the palace when needed in the future."

The Imperial Palace is so large that it can be maintained with three to four thousand people at ordinary times. But when something big happens, more people must be added.

This is also the reason why Zhu Youjian wanted to set up a service company to accommodate the eunuchs and palace maids after releasing them.

They can be transferred to the palace at any time to serve as temporary staff.

Zou Yi's statement was agreed by many people.

Zhu Youjian also agreed with this reason and asked Zou Yi:
"Then, in Zou Qing's opinion, how should the staff of the Imperial Kitchen be placed after they are transferred outside the palace?"

Zou Yi thought about this matter, and he was very comfortable with the emperor calling him "Qing", and said:

"I think we can build a hotel outside the palace and let them work in the hotel."

"When the palace holds a banquet, we will transfer more people here."

Zhu Youjian nodded, and then listened to the head of the Imperial Clothing Bureau, Shen Yin, say:
"The Imperial Clothing Department has established a clothing workshop and a clothing design studio in accordance with your majesty's instructions."

"And consolidate the tailoring industry to form a clothing association."

"I think the people from the Shangyi Bureau do not need to be placed in the Neifu Bureau."

Liu Ruoyu, the seal holder of the Internal Affairs Bureau, also said:
"The Imperial Household Supervisor can also run his own company without the Imperial Household Supervisor having to worry about it."

"The princes and princes who stayed in the capital all begged the Construction Department to help them build their mansions."

Song Jin, the head of the Imperial Household Products Department, also suggested that a workshop could be built outside the palace to make some small gadgets for the emperor to use.

It can be said that these eunuchs who were highly trusted by the emperor all proposed to set up businesses outside the palace and employ their own personnel.

Zhu Youjian listened to their various comments and was very satisfied with their initiative. He praised them:

"I am very pleased that you are so attentive."

"But with so many companies, do you know what to do? How to be self-sufficient?"

"Moreover, the businesses of various enterprises are closely related to each other. How are you going to cooperate with each other?"

Pointing at Shen Yin, the seal holder of the Imperial Clothing Bureau, Zhu Youjian asked him:

"The Nanjing Imperial Household Department has a weaving workshop. How does the clothing department plan to cooperate with the weaving workshop?"

The eunuchs in charge of weaving in Suzhou and Hangzhou used to be errand boys of the Imperial Household Department. Later, when Zhu Youjian abolished this position and changed it to a weaving workshop, he was made a subordinate of the Imperial Household Department.

When Zhu Youjian asked Shen Yin to open a clothing workshop, he also asked him to cooperate with the weaving workshop.

After Shen Yin heard this, he hesitated and said:

"I ask the weaving workshop to provide silk and cotton cloth for the clothing workshop to make clothes."

Zhu Youjian was almost laughed out of anger by him. He didn't expect that this man who vowed to start his own business was at this level.

He is running a clothing workshop in the same way as running a government office. Even if the palace gives him business in the future, it will only be enough to sustain his survival.

Zhu Youjian had previously planned to concentrate the inner court enterprises in the Imperial Household Supervision Department because he did not have many people who knew how to run a business. He planned to use a cluster collaboration approach to allow them to develop together.

However, the expansion of the Imperial Household Department was a problem that had to be considered, so he convened a meeting to deal with the matter at the request of the various departments.

Shen Yin’s answer now made him very disappointed, and he asked other eunuchs if there was any better way.

Most of these eunuchs were losers in the struggle against Wei Zhongxian, and their own abilities were questionable. How could they come up with a better solution?
In the end, it was Gao Shiming who held the seal of the Imperial Horse Administration, wrote the pen of the Imperial Household Affairs Administration, and supervised the two departments of household and labor.

"I think a committee could be set up in the inner court."

"Your Majesty has set up a treason trial committee in the outer court, and also set up a smothering committee and a disaster relief committee, allowing multiple departments to collaborate."

“The inner court can also set up a committee to resolve the issue of mutual cooperation.”

When Zhu Youjian heard him say this, his eyes suddenly lit up, because he thought of an institution in later generations——

State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission.

If all enterprises are not placed under the Neifujian, a similar institution must be established to manage the various enterprises belonging to the inner court.

So he said approvingly:

"Mr. Gao is right. The inner court should indeed establish a committee."

"I intend to establish a Royal Assets Committee to supervise and manage the inner court enterprise workshops. Who among you is willing to take on this important task?"

The newly established Imperial Assets Commission could be said to be the original Imperial Household Department's supervisory authority, which was only focused on supervising and managing enterprises.

It can be imagined that its power is not small, and many eunuchs are eager to try and plan to recommend themselves.

However, Gao Shiming and others who were favored by Zhu Youjian did not care about this, because they were already eunuchs in charge of the Imperial Household Department, and nothing could move them except the position of the Imperial Household Department's seal.

Zhu Youjian looked down on Shen Yin, who only knew how to run the government office, so he thought about it and thought of someone:
"How is Tu Wenfu doing in Nanjing?"

“Did you do your job well?”

The eunuch was startled when he heard the name, and he thought of this person at the same time.

As the former head of the Imperial Stables, Tu Wenfu's surrender can be said to be one of the biggest helps in the current emperor's overthrow of Wei Zhongxian.

Just because he was under the care of Xu Yingyuan, after Xu Yingyuan was executed, he was sent by the emperor to Nanjing to serve as a garrison eunuch.

The reason for this, of course, was that he was worried about Tu Wenfu and concerned that he might become irrational after receiving favors from Xu Yingyuan.

Now a year has passed, and the matter of Xu Yingyuan has long since disappeared. The emperor is thinking of Tu Wenfu again. Could it be that he wants to reinstate him?
The eunuchs in power in the palace had different thoughts on this.

Eunuchs of the eunuch party, such as Wang Tijian, generally had no good feelings towards Tu Wenfu, who betrayed the eunuch party.

Eunuchs such as Gao Shiming who were reinstated by the emperor were even more unwilling to see Tu Wenfu return to Beijing to compete with them for power.

After all, with Tu Wenfu's contributions when the emperor ascended the throne, it is very likely that he will serve as the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department in the future.

Those who wanted to be the first in the inner court naturally regarded him as a competitor.

So all the eunuchs fell silent. Zhu Youjian stared at Zheng Shiyi, the seal holder of the Imperial Guard, and asked:
"Have Tu Wenfu, Wang Guotai and others made any unusual moves this year?"

Zheng Shiyi had to reply:

"The Royal Guards have not received any news about this."

"After Suzhou and Hangzhou Weaving was changed to a weaving workshop, it became very quiet. However, Yingtian Bank caused quite a stir in the south."

The wind and waves were not just strong, they were truly raging.

As the eunuch garrisoning Nanjing, Tu Wenfu was one of the three most powerful people in Nanjing.

The emperor instructed him to open a bank and promised that in the future he would appoint a eunuch to supervise the bank's business, which he could rely on when he returned to Beijing.

After arriving in Nanjing, Tu Wenfu devoted himself almost exclusively to the establishment of Yingtian Bank. He carried out the Shuntian Bank business that he had learned about before leaving Beijing in Nanjing.

He forced all government offices in Nanjing to open bank accounts, and all financial transactions had to be transferred through Yingtian Bank.

Because of this, officials in Nanjing were also forced to open accounts, otherwise they would not receive their salaries or their actual silver.

Officials in Nanjing complained bitterly about this.

Because Tu Wenfu also stipulated that all large-scale silver and money transactions must go through Yingtian Bank.

There were restrictions on how government offices and officials spent money.

As a result, businesses and shops in Nanjing were forced to open accounts, otherwise they would not be able to interact with government officials and conduct business.

Under their influence, other local government offices that had dealings with the Nanjing government office were also forced to open accounts.

The same is true for other local businesses doing business in Nanjing.

Yingtian Bank's business expansion in the south was rapid. Tu Wenfu didn't care about other aspects at all, and was only focused on expanding the scope of business.

Because of this, the new bank attracted the attention of civil officials. The newly appointed Minister of the Ministry of Finance, Dong Yingju, proposed to open the Ministry of Finance Bank in the Ministry of Finance.

Zhu Youjian had heard about these things, and because of this he wanted to transfer Tu Wenfu back to take charge of the Royal Assets Committee.

In this era when everything was rough, Tu Wenfu's drastic measures were very suitable for breaking new ground.

As the emperor's personal servants, the inner court officials were not qualified to oppose the emperor's decisions.

Although all the eunuchs were unwilling to see Tu Wenfu return to Beijing, they had no choice but to accept it since the emperor had made up his mind.

Soon, Tu Wenfu was appointed as the chief eunuch of the Imperial Household Department and director of the Imperial Assets Committee, responsible for returning to the capital to manage the Imperial Assets Committee.

Regarding the internal organization of the Imperial Capital Commission, Zhu Youjian planned to set up four major committees:
"The Imperial Assets Committee has a Finance Committee that is responsible for the statistical management of the inner court's assets and internal financial transactions, as well as investment in equity-holding enterprises and property rights confirmation, etc."

"There is a Royal Bank inside the palace, which is responsible for the settlement between the inner court bank and enterprises, and does not conduct external business."

"Establish a management committee to be responsible for the assessment and appointment and removal of senior management personnel of the company." "For inner court companies, the main assessment is business ability. Since senior executives want to participate in dividends, they must show their ability."

"At the same time, supervision over them is necessary, so a supervisory committee should be set up."

"The Metropolitan Supervisor must send someone to serve on the Supervisory Committee. I will also invite some external personnel to serve as independent Supervisory Committee members."

"Finally, there is the Industry Committee, which is responsible for industry coordination, planning, and technological innovation, etc."

"Integrate enterprises in agriculture, industry, commerce, military, propaganda, education, real estate and other industries to form a synergy."

“This committee will include external personnel such as the Royal Academy of Sciences as members.”

These are all what Zhu Youjian could think of at the moment. There are definitely some imperfections that will need to be adjusted in the future.

But the overall strategy is certain, that is, all enterprises in the inner court must work together to survive in future competition.

In order to encourage the growth of royal assets, Zhu Youjian officially confirmed the dividends he had mentioned to Wang Chengen:
"The members of these committees are the top brass of the Royal Assets Commission and enjoy 2% of the Royal Assets Commission's overall profits."

"All high-ranking officials in the inner court are registered in the Imperial Capital Commission and enjoy 3% of the profits."

"If anyone drags their feet, you know the consequences."

This was a stern warning to those present, and they were all silent for a moment.

Because some people really want to hold Tu Wenfu back and take down Tu Wenfu, who has the potential to become the seal holder of the Imperial Household Department.

But the emperor had already made his attitude clear by tying up all the high-ranking officials in the inner court:

If anyone dares to make fun of the Imperial Assets Commission, the emperor will definitely not show any mercy when dealing with them.

Even after the dividends of the Imperial Assets Committee were increased, if anyone still acted recklessly in the affairs of the Imperial Assets Committee, it would cause targeting by all the senior officials in the inner court.

This institution will be the core of the future royal consortium and one of the sources of power for the royal family after entering the industrial age.

Because of this, Zhu Youjian did not hesitate to give dividends to all senior officials in the inner court and tie them all up.

After the establishment of the Imperial Assets Commission, the previous idea of ​​the Imperial Household Department naturally came to an end.

However, the power of the Imperial Household Department was still very great because the inner court treasury was still managed by it.

At the same time, Zhu Youjian reorganized the enterprises of the Imperial Household Department. In addition to the Royal Energy, Royal Ceramics, and Royal Ships, he also converted the weaving workshop in Nanjing into the Royal Weaving Workshop, which became the four major groups under the Imperial Household Department.

These companies are all named "Royal" and are backed by the royal reputation. The requirements are also very strict and no major problems are allowed.

The Beijing News Group and the Weapons Group of the Bingzhang Bureau, which are directly managed by the Imperial Household Supervision Department, are still managed by the Imperial Household Supervision Department as subordinate enterprises.

However, enterprises such as the postal company, Ming Pao Company, shipping group, Tung Ning Group, and Nanyang Group, which only held controlling or participating shares but did not participate in management, were transferred to the Royal Assets Commission, which was responsible for asset management.

At the same time, all enterprises under the Imperial Household Supervision must cooperate with the industrial policies of the Imperial Assets Commission, accept the supervision of the Imperial Assets Commission, and assess and appoint and remove senior executives.

At Zou Yi's request, the Imperial Kitchen Supervisor established the Royal Hotel Group, which mainly opened high-end hotels in the two capitals to house inner court service personnel.

The clothing workshop of the Shangyijian was not promoted to a group, and was even acquired by the Royal Weaving Group, which was responsible for garment manufacturing.

As for the styles of ready-made clothes, they are designed by clothing design studios. These designers mainly come from Suzhou and Hangzhou weaving factories and tailor shops in the capital. Supported by the Royal Weaving Group, they set up special design studios to design ready-made clothes and enjoy the profits from the ready-made clothes.

At Liu Ruoyu's request, the Imperial Household Supervision Bureau established the Royal Construction Group, which was mainly responsible for house construction and renovation.

They are also mainly responsible for managing properties and estates outside the imperial palace, and their current main task is to build mansions for the kings.

There is also the design and construction of Nanyuan. Zhu Youjian plans to build Nanhaizi into an open-air stadium and country park, allowing the public to buy tickets to enter, and the martial arts conference will also be held there in the future.

Shanglinyuan also joined in the fun and established the Royal Agricultural Group, which was mainly responsible for the royal fields and produced grains, vegetables, meat and other products for the palace and royal hotels.

Finally, there was the Royal Pharmaceutical Group of the Imperial Medical Service. Zhu Youjian asked them to build several more specialized hospitals modeled after the Maternal and Child Health Hospital, and at the same time produce finished medicines and sell them at preferential prices in Huimin Pharmacies.

His requirement for the Royal Pharmaceutical Group was not to make profits, but to improve medical technology and enhance the image of the royal family.

If there is really profit, he will let the Imperial Medical Service organize free clinics to allow doctors to accumulate more experience.

The Imperial Observatory, which was also incorporated into the inner court, was a government office that had a hard time making money. However, Zhu Youjian also arranged for the Imperial Observatory to cooperate with the Beijing News Group to print calendars and sell them.

Jinyiwei suffered losses when the Imperial Capital Commission was established, because the emperor required all the money-making institutions of Jinyiwei to be transferred to other government offices. Some were transferred to the Imperial Guard's Military Affairs Bureau, and some were transferred to the Shanglinyuan Bureau.

Zhu Youjian did not intend to allow the Jinyiwei to have the ability to generate revenue, so they could only rely on funding from the inner court treasury.

However, the top brass of the Imperial Guards were treated well. Like the senior eunuchs, they could be listed in the Imperial Assets Commission and share 3% of the profits. They would also provide intelligence and even security personnel when needed by the royal enterprises.

Zhu Youjian considered and rejected the requests of other inner court offices such as the Imperial Household Department, the Department of Construction, and the Palace Department to start businesses outside the palace. Their personnel, along with those laid off from other palaces, were all transferred to the Internal Affairs Department after leaving the palace, and together they formed a comprehensive service group.

This group is mainly responsible for services such as housekeeping, health, elderly care, childcare, pet care, and training, and also accepts some palace maids and female officials.

We also accept customized services, but customers are required to pay more money.

For example, the craftsmen of the Imperial Household Department could accept orders and make some strange little gadgets. Zhu Youjian even planned to allow them to make some harmless imperial items and allow customers to own them through special authorization.

Zhu Youjian wanted the group to help the palace maintain a group of personnel. The hired service personnel would receive more than half of the fee, and if the group made a profit, dividends would be distributed to the staff at the end of the year.

In the future, those who are particularly outstanding among them may be transferred to the palace.

I don’t know if it was this promise that calmed people’s hearts, but when the palace staff was subsequently laid off, not many eunuchs caused trouble.

Most of them accepted the arrangement and stepped into the palace, which was extremely unfamiliar to them.

After entering the palace for decades, many eunuchs had forgotten what it was like outside the palace, and given their rank, they had never thought about going out.

Unexpectedly, with one order from the current emperor, they were laid off and forced to leave the palace.

Fortunately, the emperor was generous enough to give severance pay to those who were willing to go home. Those who had nowhere to go were also given jobs, with at least one stone of rice from the government every month.

One stone of rice may sound like a small amount, but you should know that the imperial court's disaster relief standard is three dou for an adult per month.

Even if a scholar passed the imperial examination and was admitted as a student on government stipend, he would only receive six dou of rice per month.

This stone of grain was enough to sustain their survival, and they even had some left over for consumption.

Of course, these people would rather stay in the palace, because they would not only have a chance to rise, but also receive a salary in the future.

Each time a eunuch's rank was promoted, he would receive an extra two months' salary. The palace also provided them with food and lodging, so there was no need to spend money on this.

The Imperial Household Department has already been planning to have a comprehensive service group open a store in the palace to sell goods exclusively to people in the palace and earn their money.

The goods inside will naturally be the best of the best, and the prices will be very expensive——

After all, it is impossible for the palace to transport goods in large quantities, nor is it possible to sell goods on a large scale and generate a lot of domestic waste.

All the inner court personnel needed to adapt to these changes. Zhu Youjian planned to spend half a year to complete these adjustments.

People outside the palace were also shocked by the palace layoffs, especially the civil servants, who were most surprised.

They never expected that the emperor would take the initiative to lay off palace staff and release the palace maids.

There was no news about this incident before, and many civil servants did not think of it.

This made them feel unsure about how to evaluate the current emperor:

"It was always the civil officials who advised and remonstrated before the emperor made the move to release the concubines."

"Your Majesty, without any need for persuasion, has released all the palace maids over the age of 25."

"This... this is truly a Holy Lord!"

The civil servants discussed this matter and felt very unfulfilled.

What the emperor did was good, but without their participation, how could it be called "making the monarch as good as Yao and Shun" and assisting the monarch to surpass Yao and Shun.

But some people were also excited. Liu Zongzhou submitted a memorial, saying that the emperor really took the teachings of Yao and Shun to heart and lived up to his "Memorial to the Emperor in the Words of Yao and Shun".

Zhu Youjian published this memorial in the newspaper and won a lot of praise.

His popularity among the people was at its peak, and those who had been selected to enter the palace and were now reunited with their families all praised the emperor enthusiastically and believed that the emperor was a sage monarch.

Some people also targeted the people coming out of the inner court, trying to find out the news inside the palace.

However, after Zhu Youjian ascended the throne, he attached great importance to confidentiality. Most eunuchs only knew what they saw, and other things were just hearsay.

Moreover, before leaving the palace, the inner court staff received confidentiality training and were afraid to talk about things in the palace for fear of being held accountable by the Embroidered Uniform Guards.

However, some literati added fuel to the fire based on hearsay and wrote some diaries in private, recording many palace secrets during the Wanli, Taichang and Tianqi years, which became one of the historical materials studied by later scholars.

The wealthy and powerful families set their sights on the service personnel from the palace. After all, the people were not allowed to use eunuchs privately, and many nobles did not have them.

They were extremely curious about this, and after various service companies under the comprehensive service group were listed for business, many people tried to spend a few hundred taels of silver to hire a few people for a trial year.

Especially those princes and crown princes who stayed in the capital, most of them hired eunuchs, and some even planned to buy them and send them to their fiefdoms.

As a result, whenever the Imperial Household Department took a batch of people out of the palace, they would be hired away. There was no need to arrange housing for them or worry about where to put them.

The more than 1,000 eunuchs released from the palace to work in the service industry could not make any splash in the capital, where the powerful and wealthy gathered. Some people even made reservations and waited for the eunuchs to be released from the palace.

The Imperial Household Supervisor even thought about recruiting private castration workers to work in the comprehensive service group. When Zhu Youjian found out, he severely reprimanded them and told them not to encourage castration.

After all, as the number of people in the palace decreases, the number of eunuchs needed to be added will also decrease. It is enough to train children, and there is no need to recruit adults who have been castrated privately from the public.

Especially those who entered the palace at an old age like Wei Zhongxian, many of them wanted to stand out. These people were unstable factors after entering the palace, so Zhu Youjian was certainly unwilling to recruit them.

He set up role models for eunuchs in the inner court, such as Fan Hong, Ruan An, and Wang Zhi. He planned to select more captured children to enter the palace, and let these people follow Ruan An and others' example and establish some achievements.

Because of this, he asked the Imperial Household Department to send people to the southwest and other places to select personnel from the captured children, train them, and select the best ones to enter the palace, and leave the rest to the inner court enterprises.

The Imperial Household Supervisor was very enthusiastic about this, because it meant that they had the power to select people to enter the palace, and they quickly sent people to the local areas to select people. (End of this chapter)