I was the emperor in the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 99
Jiang Bao panicked in his heart, and his feet were extremely fast, and before Wang Fu came out of the Supervisor of Rituals, he had already left him behind.

Seeing Jiang Bao walking quickly from a distance, Li Tian stood still and waited quietly, after all, the emperor never walked towards people.

When Jiang Bao came to him, he collapsed and knelt on the ground. Before Li Tian could speak, he boldly raised his head and asked.

"Your Majesty, this old slave dares to ask why His Majesty suddenly annulled the decree?"

"I thought about it again just now, and felt that the previous arrangement was not appropriate."

Li Tian didn't know that Jiang Bao's heart was overwhelmed, he waved his hands casually, and walked up to the dragon chariot parked beside him:

Jiang Bao hurriedly got up, clutching the unprinted imperial decree tightly in his hand, hurriedly approached Li Tian, ​​trying to make his tone sound natural:

"Dare to ask your majesty what is inappropriate? Does your majesty think that there is too much money to settle the family business?"

"What are you in a hurry for?"

Noticing that Jiang Bao's speech was a little faster than before, Li Tian couldn't help laughing.

"Your Majesty, how could this old slave not be in a hurry." After Li Tian saw through, Jiang Bao no longer concealed it, his eyes were full of anxiety and said:

"Does Your Majesty know how many retired old eunuchs there are in the Inner Court? There are a total of 3000 people, and there are nearly [-] old palace maids in the Palace Maid House."

Fuck, why are there so many.

Li Tian was taken aback. He thought that two or three thousand eunuchs and palace ladies would be enough. Who would have thought that there would be more than 5000 people who just retired.

"Why are there so many retired eunuchs and maids? Tell me quickly how many eunuchs and maids there are in the inner court."

Hearing the emperor's question, Jiang Bao was very surprised to be honest.

Since the 18th year of Yongle, the number of eunuchs and maids in the palace has increased day by day, how could the emperor not know.

But a little dazed, Jiang Bao hurriedly replied:

"Your Majesty, there are now almost 5000 eunuchs in the Fourth Division, Eight Bureaus, and Twelve Supervisors of the Inner Court, and more than [-] palace maids. If you count the maids serving the ladies, there will be at least another [-] more."

After a little calculation, Li Tian couldn't help but gasped, and raised his eyebrows:

"So there are now more than 1 eunuchs and court ladies in the imperial city?"

"That's right." Jiang Bao nodded, hesitant to speak but said:
"I haven't even counted the eunuchs and maids in the Nandu Imperial Palace. If you add the ones over there, there will be an additional 1 people."

Li Tian was shocked again and again at this moment, and he was a little used to it. He nodded subconsciously, and then reacted again, wondering:
"The Jinling Imperial Palace is empty, so why are there so many eunuchs and maids?"

Jiang Bao couldn't tell whether the emperor really didn't know or pretended not to know, so he pursed his lips and said in a low voice:

"Your Majesty, after all, Jinling is the capital of the Great Patriarch. How could there be no eunuchs and maids staying there. If His Majesty visits the south of the Yangtze River one day, he can't take the eunuchs and maids from the capital with him."

When Jiang Bao said this, Li Tian understood.

Isn't this the same as Nanjing Six?The so-called No. [-] backup.

When he came back to his senses, Li Tian couldn't help but secretly rejoiced when he thought of the imperial decree before.Fortunately, Jiang Bao was called back by mistake, otherwise the 10 taels of silver would have been lost if this decree continued.

However, there are more than 2 eunuchs and maids in the capital and Jinling, which is a bit too exaggerated.

No wonder the Ministry of Households has no money every day. These eunuchs and court ladies like his mother have to eat tens of 10 taels of silver a year. If the treasury has money, it will be hell.

"Jiang Bao, immediately upload my order, whether it is the capital city or the southern capital, eunuchs and court ladies who want to return to their hometowns will be allowed, regardless of rank, and each person will return home for 20 taels."

Settling the family property turned into a burden in the hometown, and the emperor really thought it was too much money, so he smiled wryly twice, Jiang Bao bowed his hands and said:

"The old slave remembers."

"Also, you two and Wang Fu will bring me a charter, and the 24 yamen of the inner court must be designated.

If there is no upper limit on the number of people, you all have to draw a line for me. My internal treasury can't afford to feed and drink tens of thousands of people. "

Your majesty is cutting down eunuchs and maids?

Jiang Bao's face froze, he just felt like a dream, the number of eunuchs and maids in the palace has been growing for many years, how come one day they will start to be cut down.

As soon as he clasped his hands, Jiang Bao opened his mouth carefully and said:

"Your Majesty wants to cut eunuchs and maids?"

"Of course I want to downsize, even though I am the king of a country, I still won't be served by tens of thousands of people.

By the way, I would like to ask you, what happened to the eunuchs and maids in the Inner Court and Palace Maids? Could it be that they are all old men and women in their seventies and eighties? "

Hearing personally that the emperor admitted that the inner court would be reduced, Jiang Bao's mood was a bit complicated.

However, he could also understand that, after all, the Ming emperors of all dynasties liked to reduce the inner court, and the emperor must have just followed suit.

Withdrawing his mind, Jiang Bao's veteran arched:

"Reporting to Your Majesty, it's not all. For example, Concubine Wu was thrown into the Early Spring Garden, and the maids who served her were no longer used. They could only go to the Clothes Bureau to do laundry.

Or go to the Palace Maid House to register, and receive one tael to six taels of idle money every month according to seniority. "

One tael to six taels of idler's money, take the average and count as three taels, and the two thousand court ladies will throw out 6000 taels of silver a month.

Thinking of this, Li Tian suddenly panicked, no wonder the money bag is always shrinking day by day, it turns out that his grandma's under the money bag is full of holes.

"Jiang Bao, hurry up and draw up an order for me. All court ladies who receive spare money will be counted as one, as long as they want to leave the palace, all of them will be allowed.

And those eunuchs are the same, as long as they want to leave the palace, don't delay for a moment, send them out immediately. "

Li Tian talked like a cannonball, Jiang Bao nodded again and again in shock, remembering each bite.

Just as he was talking, Director Wang finally came back panting heavily and pouted.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, this old slave has something to report."

In the past, Jiang Bao must have ridiculed Wang Fu when he saw Wang Fu's familiar appearance.

But remembering that Wang Fu stopped his impulsive action before, Jiang Bao moved his lips and waved his hand to make the eunuch carry the chariot consciously avoid, but the taunting words turned into concern:
"But it's important? If it's not important, it's not too late to go to the Jinyiwei government office and have a drink of tea."

"No, no." Wang Fu was steaming hot, waved his hands, licked his dry lips, looked at Li Tian and said quickly:

"Your Majesty, the Secretary of the General Administration has just reported that the Pengcheng County Government of Xuzhou Prefecture in Nanzhili Province has found Liu Gang's trace, saying that it was a mark secretly left by Zhang Shangshu."

Liu Gang?Li Tian's face suddenly became serious when he heard the words:
"Get up and go to the cabinet right away, Wang Fu, you and I can talk about it in detail."

Long Nian walked steadily and fast, and Chief Manager Wang, who had just rested, began to trot again:

"Your Majesty, it was the old slave who came back from the Supervisor of Rituals earlier, and just happened to meet the councilor of the General Secretary who personally entered the palace to deliver the memorial. The old slave was surprised, so he asked a lot, and only then did he know that the General Secretary had received a letter from the Xuzhou government. pass..."

(End of this chapter)