Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 89 Jinyi Guardsman
After confirming that Jin Yiwei's functions will be shifted to intelligence, Zhu Youjian said:
"From now on, the Bei Si Fang will be responsible for intelligence collection, the South Si Fang will be responsible for internal management, the East Si Fang will be responsible for arresting illegal officials, and the West Si Fang will be responsible for arresting thieves."

"The Guards Department is responsible for guarding, the Supervision Department is responsible for criminal names, and the Penal and Prison Department is responsible for prison edicts."

"Do you understand everything?"

The senior Jinyiwei officials present responded in unison, knowing that although the emperor had weakened Jinyiwei's function in edicts and prisons, he had no intention of abandoning Jinyiwei. Instead, it will be of great use to Jinyiwei, so it was completely rebuilt.

After the reconstruction was completed, in order to give an explanation to the foreign court, Zhu Youjian ordered again:

"From now on, the full name of Jinyiwei is Jinyiweijian, which belongs to the inner court yamen."

"The commander of the Jinyi Guards is the palm seal of the Jinyi Guards Supervisor, and the commander of the colleagues and officials is the admiral, associate manager, and secretary of the Jinyi Guards Supervisors."

"Do you understand everything?"

The purpose of this is to completely deprive Jin Yiwei of control from the outer court, and everyone understands of course.

If it were before, they would have been resistant to becoming a yamen like the Twelve Prisoners of the Inner Court and the Prisoners of Shanglinyuan, but now it is completely different.

The emperor is determined to make full use of Jinyiwei. So many institutions set up by Jinyiwei can operate independently, so there is no need to look at the face of the outer court.

Everyone agreed in unison, and Zheng Shiyi asked the emperor a question:
"Your Majesty, Jinyiwei's money and food need to be allocated by the court."

"How should Jinyi Guards solve the problem?"

Zhu Youjian had already thought about this and said:

"All the officials of the Jinyi Guard will be transferred to the Jinwu Guard to send their salaries. Those who have the rank and title of the Jinwu Guard will have their salaries distributed by the outer court."

"Nan Sifang will make a summary of the amount of money and food consumed by Jinwu Guard."

Now everyone was even more impressed, thinking that the emperor's purpose in setting up the Jinwu Guard was false. It means using the money and food from the outer court to raise royal guards for the inner court.

However, their ideas were not accurate. Zhu Youjian then stipulated the salaries of Jinyiwei officials at all levels, stipulating that all personnel serving in Jinyiwei should be paid according to their grades. Jinyiwei officials with secular positions or additional titles can be said to receive double salaries.

This confused some people as to why the emperor was so generous.

However, in Zhu Youjian's view, only by mastering money and food can the Jin Yiwei be controlled. Otherwise, Jin Yiwei's money and food have always been controlled by the outer court, and they will inevitably be restricted by the outer court, and eventually lose control.

The purpose of establishing Jinwu Guard was far from as simple as sending salary.

What Zhu Youjian thought was that when the court was short of money and food in the future, he could completely default on the salaries of the Jinwu Guards' staff, reduce their actual proportion, and pay half salary or even lower.

Compared to them, Jiubian's military talents need money and food more, and they cannot default on it.

Worried about Jiubian's unpaid wages, Zhu Youjian tried every means to collect money.

I plan to make the first effort to save money on officials who receive salary.

These people have families and businesses, and most of them are relatively wealthy. Their salaries are relatively high, and as long as their salaries are not completely suspended, they can survive.

Moreover, the existence of worldly duties also made them reluctant to leave the court, thinking that as long as the court survived the difficulties, they could make up for their salary.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian generously paid salaries to all Jinyiwei officials and asked them to work hard. In case Jinwuwei's salary is reduced, they will have no intention to work.

The salary of the newly-established fifth- and sixth-grade department heads in Jinyiwei is much lower than that of the third- and fourth-grade commanders.

Cooperating well with the foreign court can reduce Jinyiwei's financial and food burden.

Moreover, if Jin Yiwei's money and food are completely borne by the inner court in the future, the outer court should be able to accept the fact that Jin Yiwei is out of control.

This idea came about because after Zhu Youjian saw the number of Jin Yiwei, he felt that their money and food consumption was too much——

There are about 2,000 high-ranking officials in Jinyiwei, and those who receive salary for meritorious service can reach 30 to 40%, and most of them are from more than 100 households.

There are more than 17,000 people in the 17,000 households. Including recruitment and expansion from other channels, there are about 36,000 people.

These more than 36,000 people need to be paid by the imperial court. If you include the people who are attached to Jinyiwei, as well as local people, and the people who are influenced and controlled by Jinyiwei, the total number can be more than 100,000.

When Emperor Sejong Jiajing first ascended to the throne, the civil servants cleaned up the Jinyiwei and eliminated more than 30,000 people from the Jinyiwei who had violated the military academy. They also eliminated the treasurers, flag schools, sergeants, and craftsmen who had joined the newly established Jinyiwei and the supervision bureau. The remaining people.

This was the situation when he had just ascended the throne and was taken over by Yang Tinghe. Later, when Lu Bing took charge of the Jinyiwei, the Jinyiwei personnel recovered a lot and returned to their former size.

It decreased a little in the late Wanli period, but recovered again during the Tianqi period.

The Ministry of Revenue should be very happy to have this burden removed. The Ministry of War cannot produce money and food, so it should have nothing to say.

"Money and food for more than 36,000 people require four to five million dan per year." "The inner court has this extra expense, and we have to find a way in the future!" 』

Zhu Youjian is naturally under great pressure to bear this consumption, but in order to exchange for control of Jinyiwei and cut off the tentacles of the outer court to interfere with Jinyiwei, he can only grit his teeth and bear it.

Therefore, the first thing he did to adjust the Jinyiwei was to remove all their official ranks. Except for the worldly positions before Tianqi, which remained unchanged, other people's worldly positions also had to be re-appointed. Like Emperor Jiajing, first get rid of rogue military schools.

In this way, official grades can be strictly limited and money and food consumption can be saved.

At the same time, Zhu Youjian also planned to clean up the moths inside Jinyiwei and confiscate some money and food. Take back the land under their control, and allocate it to those military academies for farming along with the land confiscated by eunuch officials. Let Jin Yiwei handle the food consumption by himself, and he is only responsible for distributing money.

There is no need to explain these plans to the ministers in detail. Zhu Youjian said next:

"Nan Sifang will be responsible for the management of the Seventeen Thousand Households of Jinyiwei from now on."

"Each thousand-household position has one person in the first rank of the thousand-rank household, two persons in the fifth-rank deputy thousand-rank household, ten persons in the sixth-rank rank in the hundred household, and two persons in the sixth-rank rank."

"These fifteen officials are all selected from the Jinwu Guards. Nan Sifang will inspect them every five years. Those who are qualified will be promoted, and those who are not qualified will be returned to the Jinwu Guards."

The hearts of the Jinyiwei officials were tight, knowing that in this way, Jinyiwei was equivalent to having no official at all. However, the scope of official selection is limited to officials with secular service.

It is estimated that other officials are selected in this way.

Sure enough, Zhu Youjian said next:
"Candidates for newly established official positions should be selected from among worldly officials as much as possible."

"If there is no one in the Jinwu Guard who is qualified, we will select from senior officials from the Beijing Guard, Beizhili Guard, Jiubian Guard and other local health offices, and put reliability first."

"Those who serve in Jinyiwei can participate in Jinyiwei's affairs. Those who do not serve in Jinyiwei are not allowed to pry."

"Each department, department, and department has set up an office to operate independently, and other departments are not allowed to pry in at will."

"The Fourth Department of Confidentiality keeps Jinyiwei's internal confidentiality confidential and ensures that other than the Jinyiwei commander, others cannot pry across departments."

Emphasizing the discipline of Jinyiwei, Zhu Youjian estimated the number of officials and said:

"The number of officials in Bei Si Fang is limited to less than 1,000 people."

"The number of officials in Nansi Fang, including the residence of 17,000 households, is controlled to less than 400 people."

"Officials from the East Division and West Division each control about 200 people."

"The total number of Jinyiwei officials shall not exceed 2,000."

After setting the total number of officials, Zhu Youjian said to everyone:
"The grades of all secular officials are used as additional titles, and the actual positions held are reduced by three grades."

"Then based on this initial grade, higher official positions will be awarded based on past merits."

"It is better to have a shortage of all officials than to overfill them. Except for at least one deputy in the Department of Justice and Harmony, the other deputy positions may not be appointed for the time being."

"Next, the four commanders of the Jinyiwei, Zheng Shiyi, Qi Changguo, Li Shunzu, and Liu Qiao, together with the eunuch Wang Wenzheng, reviewed the Jinyiwei, determined the organizational structure, and re-appointed official positions."

"Anything that the five of us cannot determine will be handed over to the imperial court for decision-making."

Zheng Shiyi, Qi Changguo, and Li Shunzu accepted the order and agreed. Zheng Shiyi asked again:

"Your Majesty, now there are admirals in the East, North, and South Divisions."

"Admiral Xisi Fang, do you want to make a decision so that it can be reviewed?"

Zhu Youjian shook his head and said:
"I have made another decision regarding the Xisi Room. I will keep it as it is for the time being and let Li Shunzu take charge of it."

"First, a brigade was formed in Dongsi Fang to help court officials arrest eunuchs. Then the Prison Department and the Supervision Department were designated to detain officials and examine the internal personnel of Jinyiwei. Then Nansi Fang, Beisi Fang, and Dongsi room, and finally the Xisi room.”

After setting the order of adjustment, Zhu Youjian asked them to establish a plan to complete the reorganization within a time limit and restore the operation of Jinyiwei.

He needs an efficient Jin Yiwei to collect intelligence about the Ming Dynasty and understand the current situation of the Ming Dynasty.

　"Chongzhen Changbian": Su Maoxiang, Governor of Cangchang, said:

　　Zhao Jianji, the official in charge, checked the records of the grain department and found that in the forty-eighth year of Wanli, there were only more than 17,760 names of officers, flags, and other items.

　　Since the rebellion of Ni, the number of members has increased to more than 36,360 in three or four years. Before that, the number of members increased by more than 18,600, and the number of members was more than 220,000 yuan.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)