Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 890 Cut In
"Why are you here together?" Zhu Shenzhui, who had just finished breakfast and entered the side hall, was reading the memorials just sent by the cabinet. Hearing footsteps, he put down the memorials in his hand, looked up and asked with a smile at Zhu Minfeng and the other three who came in.

"Your Majesty, we have an important matter to discuss with you." Zhu Minfeng stood slightly forward and said as he led Zhu Minqi and Zhu Qiuqi to salute the emperor.

"Important matter?" Zhu Shenzhui thought about it for a moment and thought of the matter at the Zongrenfu. When he glanced at the three of them, he realized that Zhu Minfeng and Zhu Minqi must have gone to find Zhu Qiuqi who had just returned yesterday and told him about what happened at the Zongrenfu. That's why they came to see him today.

He did not take it seriously, because the matter of the Clan Court had been resolved. Although many people were arrested and punished, and Zhu Shenzhui was very angry because of this incident, it was over and he had no intention of pursuing it further. What's more, this matter was discovered by the Clan Court itself, and he still trusted Zhu Minfeng and the others and had no intention of blaming them.

"Please take a seat and serve tea!" Zhu Shenzhui said. As soon as he finished speaking, the new chief eunuch of the Qianqing Palace brought two young eunuchs and brought an embroidered stool and served tea.

Since Du Xun went to Nanjing, the eunuch in charge of the Qianqing Palace was replaced by a new person. This person was called Lu Jiude. Lu Jiude was also one of the leading eunuchs in the palace. Although his status was not as high as that of Du Xun and others, it was not low either.

Although Lu Jiude was a eunuch, he was not only talented in literature, but also knew some military tactics. He had served in the Beijing Camp and was also a military supervisor. After Zhu Shenzhu entered the capital, Lu Jiude, Du Xun and others joined Zhu Shenzhu, but he was not qualified enough to join the Silijian and only served in the Imperial Horse Bureau.

Although Lu Jiude was a eunuch, he was diligent and serious in his work. It didn't take long for him to catch the eye of Zhu Shencui. After two years, Zhu Shencui felt that this man was very good. After he ascended the throne, he promoted his rank and ordered him to be one of the secretaries of the Imperial Household Department.

After Du Xun went to Nanjing, the position of chief eunuch of the Qianqing Palace became vacant. Zhu Shenzui directly transferred Lu Jiude to the Qianqing Palace to replace Du Xun's original position. After arriving at the Qianqing Palace, Lu Jiude continued to work diligently and never made mistakes. He has now secured his position as the chief eunuch of the Qianqing Palace.

After Lu Jiude finished his work, he first saluted Zhu Shenzhui, and then saluted the three clan members. Then he retreated with his men and stood guard outside the hall. After Lu Jiude left, Zhu Minfeng took out a memorial from his arms and handed it over. This memorial was rushed out by them overnight. Although the ideas in it were mainly proposed by Zhu Qiuqi and supplemented by the other two, Zhu Minfeng was the oldest of the three of them, and as the left clan member of the clan government, he had the highest status, so it was natural for him to deliver this memorial.

"Your Majesty, this is what the three of us wrote after discussing it yesterday. Please take a look at it."

Zhu Shenzhui took the memorial and didn't take it seriously. He subconsciously thought that it might be a memorial of apology. After all, such a thing happened in the Clan Court, and as the left and right clan members, he was responsible no matter what. Moreover, although Zhu Qiuqi was not in charge of the Clan Court at present, his authority in the Clan Court was second only to the other two. He had just returned to Beijing and learned about this matter, so it was natural for him to submit a memorial of apology and go through the procedures.

Zhu Shenzhui thought so in his heart with a smile on his face. He felt helpless about the three of them acting like this. He didn't want to punish them in the first place, so why did he do this?

But when Zhu Shenzhui opened the memorial and took a closer look at its contents, he was stunned after reading only a few lines. He did not expect that this was not a memorial of apology, but a memorial on how to change the current procedure for the clan government to pay salaries to clan members, and the contents and suggestions were really unexpected.

The more Zhu Shenzhu looked at it, the more shocked he became. He couldn't help but look up and move his eyes away from the memorial, and turned to look at the three people sitting not far away. Zhu Shenzhu never expected that they would submit such a memorial, and even proposed such a solution, which not only surprised him, but also made him very happy.

"Who came up with this idea? Was it Xiao Shiba?" Zhu Shenzhui asked directly.

"Your Majesty is wise. He is eighteen." Zhu Minfeng replied with a bow. Zhu Qiuqi stood up and said that this idea was indeed his own. Not long after he left the palace yesterday, his two uncles came to visit him. The three of them hadn't seen each other for a long time, so they chatted about some things, among which they talked about the troubles in the clan house not long ago.

Although the issue of the Ministry of Clan Affairs has been resolved for now, similar situations may occur again in the future if there is no supervision and restriction.

Zhu Minfeng and Zhu Minyu were very worried about this and hoped to ask Zhu Qiuqi to help them think of some solutions, such as staying in the capital for a few more days to help them rectify the clan house. However, Zhu Qiuqi could not stay in the capital for a few days because of Shandong affairs. In his opinion, the approach of merely mending the fold after the sheep have been lost is simply a temporary solution. Even if the current matter is over, as long as the process of distributing clan salaries remains unchanged, similar situations will continue to occur in the future, which is impossible to prevent.

Zhu Qiuqi believed that in order to solve this problem, we must start from the root, completely overturn the previous process system, and solve the problem from other angles. Because Zhu Qiuqi had a close cooperation with Hengtong in the past, and now he was working in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, he was not unfamiliar with the cooperation with the Ming Royal Bank, and they had many exchanges with each other.

The operation of the Royal Bank has become more and more perfect over the years, and the efficiency of the Royal Bank as a financial institution of the Ministry of Internal Affairs is obvious to all. Moreover, as a financial institution, it is independent of the various departments of the court. It not only has considerable autonomy, but also will not be involved in the various departments of the court.

With reference to the current operations of commerce including maritime trade, and considering the advantages of the Royal Bank, Zhu Qiuqi suggested that the Clan Court and the Ming Royal Bank cooperate. That is, in the future, the Clan Court's payment of salaries to the Ming royal family would be changed from the original operating procedures to direct payment by the Ming Royal Bank.

In this way, in the future, neither the Imperial Clan Court nor the Ministry of Rites will have direct contact with the actual salary. Their only powers are to calculate, review, and approve the salary list, amount, etc. As for the Ministry of Revenue, it is even simpler. The Ministry of Revenue has cooperated with the Ming Royal Bank. Currently, all funds from foreign trade, whether border trade or maritime trade, are all traded through the Ming Royal Bank as a platform. The taxes generated are also deducted during the transaction. The deduction is divided into three parts, namely the court, the local government, and the bank retention, that is, the Ministry of Internal Affairs including the royal family, and the court's part is retained in the Ministry of Revenue's account at the Royal Bank, which can be paid and withdrawn at any time.

Referring to this operating model, Zhu Qiuqi believed that having the Ming Royal Bank take on the responsibility of paying the royal family's salaries could completely avoid the previous problems and protect the interests of the Ming royal family. In addition, this opportunity would not only provide an opportunity for the establishment and promotion of the Ming Royal Bank in various parts of the Ming Dynasty, but also help win over the Ming royal family because the salaries would no longer be withheld or delayed and would be paid directly to the royal family, thereby enhancing the status of the royal family in their hearts and strengthening the emperor's influence on them.

These all have great benefits. Due to time constraints, they only discussed for one night and came up with a preliminary plan. The purpose of asking for an audience with the emperor today is to propose this idea. If Zhu Shenzhui thinks this is feasible, then he can coordinate through the Ministry of Internal Affairs including the Ming Royal Bank to eventually perfect the plan. At the same time, he can also change the previous drawbacks and use a new model to determine the payment of royal family salaries by the Ministry of Clan Affairs.

After listening to Zhu Qiuqi's explanation, Zhu Shenzhui's eyes sparkled and he applauded in his heart. He never expected Zhu Qiuqi to give him such a surprise, let alone to make such a suggestion.

In fact, Zhu Shenzhui had already considered the specific functions of the bank when he set up the Ming Royal Bank. As a bank, and now the Ming Royal Bank is almost equivalent to a central bank, it not only undertakes financial business, including but not limited to the issuance and circulation of silver bills, trade platforms, taxation and various tasks to stabilize the economy, but also includes normal financial institutions such as savings and lending.

In addition, banks have another function, which is the payment of salaries. Over the years, the Ming Dynasty has been plagued by various problems, among which official corruption is serious, especially the so-called embezzlement phenomenon, which has been repeatedly banned and has almost become a routine.

For example, when the state allocates military pay and rations to the army, the difference between the amount allocated by the court and the actual amount received by the army is at least 30%. If the deductions by the generals are added, the final amount that reaches the soldiers is less than half or even less.

As for the civil servants, it was still okay. After all, the six ministries of the court were controlled by the civil servants. No matter how much they deducted money, they would not deduct money from themselves. However, the situation was very serious in the army. It also led to the fact that the combat effectiveness of many armies in the Ming Dynasty was not weak, but the military pay and food were insufficient. The soldiers could not even get enough food, so how could they talk about combat effectiveness?

Zhu Shenzhu has always wanted to change this situation. Whether he has reorganized the troops or adjusted the various departments over the years, his goal is to solve this problem. But the effect is not good, so he can only try to control it as much as possible and ensure the treatment of basic soldiers and the combat effectiveness of the troops by allocating more funds.

In fact, there are ways to make a radical change, just like the current proposal to directly pay salaries to individuals through banks. But Zhu Shenzhui dared not do this for the time being, because once he did it, it would be equivalent to offending a large number of people, from the civil service group to the military group, and there were countless people at each level. As the saying goes, taking someone's money is equivalent to harming their parents. These people have long formed a huge interest group. Even if he is the emperor, he cannot immediately deal with them in a tough way. If he does not do well and encounters strong opposition, the army will be in chaos, and the world will also be in chaos, right?
Stability overrides everything. Even though Zhu Shenzhui knew about the problem, he could only accept it. But he did not do nothing. The reorganization and adjustment mentioned before were the means, and the establishment of martial arts and the fundamental change of the military structure were also means. One has to eat one bite at a time and do things one step at a time. Change gradually after a few years, and when the time is right, replace the old model with the new one. This is the most stable way.

But what Zhu Shenzhui didn't expect was the payment of the royal family's salary, which was an aspect he had overlooked. He couldn't change the army for the time being, and the officials of the court were also a little afraid to act rashly, but there was no problem with the royal family! The royal family was the royal family's own business, and the clan house was in their hands. This was not restricted by the court and the army at all. It was completely possible to start from the perspective of the royal family and use this method to solve the problem first.

As long as the system of distributing royal family salaries is changed, not only can the previous problems be eliminated, but also, as Zhu Qiuqi said, on the one hand it can promote the establishment and business of royal banks in various places, and on the other hand it can take this opportunity to win over royal family members throughout the Ming Dynasty and make them remember the emperor's kindness. Why not kill two birds with one stone?

In addition, if this matter is done well, it can also set an example for the future payment of salaries to the army and court officials. By pushing this matter forward step by step, when it is done naturally, won't everything be done? Thinking of this, Zhu Shenzhu was very happy in his heart, and a happy smile appeared on his face.

(End of this chapter)