This incident happened on New Year's Eve inevitably spread.

For a moment, the palace vibrated and the capital vibrated.

For most palace maids and eunuchs in the palace, they were shocked that they wanted to lay off employees in the palace, and for a moment, people were in panic.

The palace maid is better, and she has a family to go back, but the conditions at home are OK, but nothing is wrong.

But for the eunuchs, it was like the sky collapsed and they couldn't go back! Therefore, they tried their best to prove to the masters they served that they were more capable than others and hoped to stay in the palace.

For the capital, the prince was scolded by the emperor. You should know that before, Emperor Chongzhen spoiled his eldest son, which can be seen from the fact that he was directly appointed as the prince shortly after he was born.

Therefore, those who are related to the prince, such as relatives and officials from the Eastern Palace, can't help but worry. They guessed that the emperor was dissatisfied with the prince and wanted to change something?

Of course, more people are concerned about the incident itself. Many people did not expect that the emperor treated textile work equally, and the prince was scolded by the emperor for despising him.

For ordinary people, this kind of thing immediately became a close and identifiable feeling for the emperor. At the same time, they were even more sympathetic. The emperor really had no money and wanted the queen to go to textiles to make money to subsidize the family income!

These reactions caused by the palace inside and outside the palace were naturally within Emperor Chongzhen's expectations. He watched coldly and sat down to watch the follow-up.

After the news came out, many ministers submitted memorials for this.

Some memorials were about speaking for the prince, saying that the prince was young and had filial piety, which was an unintentional mistake. The Ming Dynasty ruled the world with filial piety, and hoped that the emperor would reward the prince! In the meantime, no matter what the purpose was for, Emperor Chongzhen kept the name of the memorialist in his heart, and then kept the memorials and did not issue them.

Some memorials said that the queen took the lead in doing rough textile work, which was abhorrent in royal decency, and hoped that the emperor would consider it carefully. Emperor Chongzhen issued a letter to the word "money" and then typed it back!

Don’t have money, don’t you understand! This will deepen this impression!

After such a fuss, everyone in the world would probably know about this. Everyone knows that the emperor had no money, so he had to cut down the labor force in the palace and save money. The queen had to rely on textiles to subsidize the cost in the palace. The Emperor of Ming Dynasty was really poor!

By the way, Emperor Chongzhen's words of reprimanding the prince inevitably spread.

Of course, the reduction of staff in the palace will definitely cause concern. Emperor Chongzhen, on the afternoon of the first day of the Lunar New Year, made everyone worried for a while, and then summoned the eunuchs in the palace's twelve prisons and the twenty-four yamen.

Everyone arrived early, and everyone looked a little solemn. The emperor summoned all the eunuchs, the seal-holding eunuchs, which was obviously related to the announcement of the abolition of the palace on New Year's Eve. No one hoped that their yamen would be cut off, and they were very worried about how many people the emperor would want to cut off.

At this time, they had no usual routine of meeting each other, no matter whether they were in a bad mood or not, they would say hello. They bowed their heads and said nothing, thinking in their hearts. If the emperor asked, how many people should be cut off and those people should be cut off, they would have to give the emperor an explanation. Most people thought in their hearts that they must complain when they turned around and try to leave more people for their yamen.

After Emperor Chongzhen came, he just saw the words and deeds of these eunuchs below, and he had a better understanding of their mentality.

After the ceremony, he opened the door and said straight to the point: "If there are turmoil today, there are thieves everywhere, the Qing army is raging, and there are floods in the south and droughts in the north, and the people are living in poverty. I am worried..."

The emperor's opening remark made everyone's heart skip. If he said so seriously, the emperor's determination seemed to be difficult to shake. After all, no matter how hard the palace yamen was, could he suffer from the turmoil in the world and the safety of the country?

"... Everyone needs money urgently, but the national treasury is empty and the internal treasury has no money available. I was forced to have no choice but to think of ways to increase revenue and reduce expenditure. Don't let me talk about it for a while, but the palace can still move immediately. Save as much as you can. Save a little money, and you should be able to understand my mood. If possible, how can I not be shameless? Do you think?"

The lord was worried about the humiliation of the ministers. When the emperor said this, the eunuchs holding seals could no longer stand and knelt down to apologize. For a moment, the complaints planned in their hearts could not be expressed.

Emperor Chongzhen let them kneel down and said with emotion: "When the court overcomes the difficulties, when I think of a way to make money, I am not competing for profit with the people. If there is money in the harem, I will no longer have to be so restrained. If the people are suffering today, the palace will also tighten their belts and pass by for a while. No matter what, it can be said that I have shared the joys and sorrows with my people. Do you understand what I mean?"

In this case, who dares to have any objection? The eunuchs below are all good at observing the words and expressions of landlords. How could they feel when they see the nominally rich emperor saying so tragically?

So many eunuchs began to express their opinions, saying that they were useless, which made the emperor embarrassed, and even started to cry.

Emperor Chongzhen did not stop this. After making them cry for a while, he said: "The staff in each prison and the yamen are all listed, and the non-essential staff have been reduced. I want to see the specific details, do you understand?"

He had already made it very clear. If someone still complained and the list submitted could not be cut off a few people, it would be that he would not understand the holy heart. It would be imagined what impression he would have in the emperor's mind when he turned back!

These eunuchs with seals know this. At this time, they can only express their opinions and will definitely follow the order.

In later generations, some people once said that during the Chongzhen Dynasty, there were 100,000 maids and eunuchs in the palace to attack Emperor Chongzhen.

No matter what, if 100,000 people are in the Forbidden City, can they still be squeezed out?

Now Emperor Chongzhen has made this sanction and withdrawal measures, giving details, and looking back can prevent rumors in this regard.

"Your Majesty, I don't know what the arrangement is for the removal of the palace maids and eunuchs?" Wang Dehua, as the first prison in the palace, was the eunuch in charge of the seals of the Sili Supervisor, had to ask.

When Emperor Chongzhen heard this, he immediately said lightly: "Just follow the palace rules and regulations. If you can go home, go home, but if you can't go home, you can arrange to go to the village outside the palace to do some work to support yourself. As for the rewards of those who go home and the capital for working in the village, you can still squeeze out some of them after the Jinyiwei has finished searching."

The original Jinyiwei officials' search has not yet been found, but no matter what, there must be a cash sum of money. It should be enough to use these to resettle the people in the palace.

There is a trick here, which is to announce bad news through informal channels first, and when everyone is pessimistic, then give them good news in time. Better than announcements with bad news together, which can attract more gratitude.
Chapter completed!