fifth form

Chapter 2292 The Imperial Court Must Be Rotated

The Empress Dowager's death was kept secret and very few people knew about it.

There was also the God of Zhenyuan, who displayed his magical powers in a high-profile manner late at night, making people feel fearful and afraid to move.

But there are many caring people in the world.

Zhang Xuezhou used Wei Zifu's singing to calm the broken bridges between heaven and earth, allowing the stretched bridges to return to their original positions and merge.

What the new emperor calmed down were the turbulent speculations in people's hearts.

The time came earlier than the new emperor had imagined. Although the Empress Dowager had made some backup plans before she left, which allowed him to use some temporary leverage, this would not last long.

Maybe one year, maybe two years, or maybe three years.

This period of time may seem very long, but it is too short compared to the polishing period of entering the state of ego.

When the new emperor was competing with the Empress Dowager, he felt that the Empress Dowager controlled him too much and suppressed him too much.

When the new emperor performed the ceremony of offering sacrifices to his ancestors and his status was determined by the true and false Scarlet Sky Sword, the Empress Dowager only had time to take care of him.

The former made him hate the fact that the Empress Dowager had lived through three dynasties for too long, while the latter made the new emperor feel that time was too short and he wished he could let the Empress Dowager live another ten years.

"Dongfang Shuo, when do you think it would be appropriate for me to take over government affairs?"

After stepping out of the Shufang and walking towards the main hall of Weiyang Palace, the new emperor couldn't help but chat casually.

But when the new emperor was chatting, Zhang Xuezhou's eyes inadvertently swept across the new emperor's hand, and saw that the other's right hand had been clenched into a fist unconsciously.

"The Han Dynasty belongs to Your Majesty. Your Majesty can take over the government whenever you want," Zhang Xuezhou replied neither humbly nor arrogantly.

"There are some things I know, but my subjects may not know them." The new emperor said, "Some people just don't want to listen to me. What do you think I should do?"

"If you don't listen, I will dismiss you," said Zhang Xuezhou.

"If he has strength and prestige..."

"The court has gone through several rounds of officials being replaced, and no one has the prestige to stay in power all year round!"

Zhang Xuezhou shook his head.

Emperor Jingdi defeated King Liang, eliminated the most threatening of the princes, sent away the most powerful Commandant Zhou, and turned him into a pottery figurine for burial.

The most famous among the civil officials was Emperor Jing's teacher, Chao Cuo, who was beheaded.

All the heads of the princes, military generals, and civil officials died, and the official system of the Han Dynasty became loose and could no longer form an ironclad situation.

It seems that Xu Chang is the prime minister at the moment, and Zhuang Qingzhai is the chief censor, but these people have only been in office for two or three years, and their orders are still difficult to reach remote areas, let alone form a strong enough prestige.

"Your Majesty, with General Li Guang in charge, you don't have to be afraid of any strength at the moment," Zhang Xuezhou said with a smile.

"That being said, there are only a few who can replace him," the new emperor pondered.

"It seems that Your Majesty has some candidates in mind," said Zhang Xuezhou.

"Xu Chang and Zhuang Qingzhai have joined forces to control the government. Only by getting rid of them together can we avoid the court officials taking sides, so that I don't have to look at their faces to get my orders across." The new emperor whispered, "My uncle Tian Fen has many guests and has served as a general before. It is not difficult for him to take a seat, but I need at least a loyal person."

"Loyal and faithful..."

Zhang Xuezhou hesitated for a moment.

The new emperor was in control of the government, and replacing Xu Chang and Zhuang Qingzhai was inevitable, but who would replace them was a problem.

It seems that the new emperor only mentioned the simple requirement of "loyalty", but those who can replace the prime minister and the chief censor of a dynasty all need high intelligence and high strength to complete the replacement.

There are very few loyal people around the new emperor, and even fewer powerful people.

If Tian Fen relied on his connections to judge loyalty, then the others either had no ability or no connections, and it was extremely difficult for them to meet the requirements of the new emperor.

Without enough replacements, it would be difficult for the new emperor to directly govern the country.

"Your Majesty, do you still remember Han Anguo?"

Zhang Xuezhou thought for a long time before he remembered a person who was both reliable and unreliable, but also reliable and unreliable. "Han Anguo?"

The new emperor wrinkled his face slightly.

Of course he knew Han Anguo, who was an official introduced through bribery.

The other party was once the most important member of King Liang's army. After the death of King Liang Liu Wu, he was liquidated by the kings who succeeded Liang, and was thus caught up in the internal strife of the royal court and eliminated.

Han Anguo is extremely powerful and wise, but the new emperor has met Han Anguo very limited times. Han Anguo has no chance to show his loyalty, and the new emperor cannot feel his loyalty.

“This person doesn’t seem to be loyal to Your Majesty, but he has always wanted to have a place to stand.” Zhang Xuezhou laughed and said, “He didn’t choose Anle Palace at that time!”

"You mean he has to choose me and therefore has to follow me loyally?" asked the new emperor.

“That’s how it should be!”

Zhang Xuezhou nodded.

Although Zhang Xuezhou was not familiar with Han Anguo, Zhang Xuezhou was familiar with Qimeng Haig and knew the mentality of this kind of person very well.

It can be said that Han Anguo was disloyal, but when Han Anguo clung to the court, he must have performed his duties conscientiously and in most cases would obey the new emperor's orders.

What was particularly important was that Han Anguo had no roots in Chang'an City, and the other party was on good terms with Tian Fen and others, so it was unlikely that there would be any unpleasantness.

"Then I know!"

The new emperor nodded, with a hint of satisfaction on his face.

Although he would find Han Anguo's peculiarities as he kept counting, and there was a certain probability that he would choose him, he was obviously very satisfied with Zhang Xuezhou's reminder.

Zhang Xuezhou's tenure as Taizhong Daifu was a mess. He went to court once and worked for only one day since taking office, but Zhang Xuezhou was a pretty good 'Jieshi Zhong' and still had the same high-level style of answering the new emperor's questions as before.

Now that he had a candidate in mind, the new emperor breathed a sigh of relief, and his tense head felt more relaxed than when he was listening to Wei Zifu singing.

"Xu Chang and Zhuang Qingzhai acted conservatively and did not make great contributions, but they never made mistakes," the new emperor whispered, "How do you think I should find their mistakes so that I can replace them reasonably?"

"Your Majesty, it's so difficult to find fault with something like this. I haven't resigned from my position yet!"

The officials of the imperial court were not controlled by the emperor alone and could not be transferred at will according to his preference.

Even when the Empress Dowager impeached Zhao Wan and Wang Zang, she chose to try them on their own charges, which allowed her to successfully remove them from their high-ranking positions.

Generally speaking, unless they made major mistakes, officials could remain stable and even be promoted based on their age during their service in the court, up to a certain limit.

Even if an official is impeached for something wrong, most of the time he is given a light punishment or a severe warning, and most of the time he is just fined some salary and that's it.

Not to mention the removal of Xu Chang and Zhuang Qingzhai, even Zhang Xuezhou, the Taizhong doctor, is still holding on.

"Soon," the new emperor said with a headache, "When Li Guang catches the person who made the mistake, I will scold him harshly and punish him severely. He will definitely be dissatisfied with you and will use your long-term non-performance of your duties as an excuse. Then I can use this as an excuse to remove you from your position as Taizhong Daifu!"

"Can it be done?"

"It should work, right?"

The new emperor replied uncertainly.

It was strange to be an official like Zhang Xuezhou, but it was unexpected that Zhang Xuezhou served as Taizhong Daifu.

Not to mention that Zhang Xuezhou did not expect to step into the rank below the Nine Ministers, the new emperor also did not expect the strength of support from Anle Palace for this matter.

After Zhang Xuezhou was appointed as Taizhong Daifu, Han Anguo was appointed as Beidi Duwei. The new emperor arranged two important positions under the Nine Ministers. He also tried other people, but the new emperor found that others were directly rejected, and Anle Palace no longer supported anyone to take office.

Although it is not known what the Empress Dowager of Anle Palace saw in Zhang Xuezhou, it would be difficult for him to resign after being promoted.

At least in the eyes of the Imperial Censor Zhuang Qingzhai, there was no possibility that Zhang Xuezhou would be impeached.

"Or you can think about it again and see if there is any better way to make trouble." The new emperor thought: "You'd better set an example for resigning from office, so that I can refer to it in the future!"

The new emperor wanted his subordinates to hold positions of real power, but it was rare to see an official as powerful as Zhang Xuezhou, who had to hide from place to place to avoid disaster.

Compared with the usefulness brought by Zhang Xuezhou as Taizhong Doctor, he obviously prefers Zhang Xuezhou to give him some advice from time to time to remind him, rather than having to hide for several months before meeting him once.