My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 384 Double-edged sword~
Thinking of this, Liu Rong lowered his head and took out a piece of white paper from his arms that had obviously just been written on.

On the white paper is the evolution of the positions and names of the Three Dukes and Nine Ministers of the Han Dynasty, which Liu Rong sorted out based on his memory and the original historical timeline.

In particular, the evolution that occurred during the reigns of Emperors Jing and Wu on the original historical timeline was brought together by Liu Rong.

The Three Dukes had hardly changed during the Jing and Wu dynasties in the original historical timeline.

The prime minister is still the head of all officials, and the chief censor is still the second-in-command.

Only the Taiwei was changed to Da Sima by Emperor Wu of Han. Following the precedents of Wei Qing and Huo Qubing, the position of Taiwei, which was renamed as Da Sima, was allowed to be held concurrently with other existing military positions of the Han Dynasty and by one person.

For example, Wei Qing, the Marquis of Changping, once served as Grand Marshal and General;
Huo Qubing, Marquis of Jingheng, also served as Grand Marshal and General of Cavalry.

In general, there is not much change - the title of Taiwei is just changed to Da Sima, but in essence it still has the status, specifications and authority of Taiwei.

However, at the level of the Nine Ministers, there were many changes during the reigns of Jing and Wu in history.

First, during the reign of Emperor Jing, after the rebellion of the Seven States of Wu and Chu was quelled, a series of amendments to the names of official positions and their powers and responsibilities were introduced in order to weaken local counties and centralize power.

For example: changing the county governor to the prefect, and changing the county lieutenant to the commander.

- The former changed from the "governor of a county" to the local governor for the central government's herdsmen;
The latter was downgraded from being the commander-in-chief of a county's troops to a military position no different from a captain or general in the army.

For example: changing the title of Crown Prince to Prince, and changing the title of Prince to Prince - the purpose is to distinguish between the royal children and the children of princes, so that the titles of Prince, Prince, Crown Prince, etc. become exclusive to the royal family, rather than for both the royal family and the princes.

In addition, many changes have occurred within the court, especially at the level of the Nine Ministers.

For example, at the moment, Liu Rong still feels uncomfortable with it, and it sounds extremely awkward and strange: change the Tingwei to Dali.

Another example is that it has no practical meaning, it is just a literal change of name, with the "retro name": Fengchang was changed to Taichang.

There are also some changes that were originally planned but have not been made yet: changing Dian Ke to Da Xing.

The first two of these three items have already been achieved in the timeline that Liu Rong is currently in.

Although it was not done by Emperor Xiaojing himself, Liu Rong followed the will of the late emperor and fulfilled the wish of his deceased father.

Apart from these two, the rest, including the Internal History, the Junior Treasure, the Guardian of the Imperial Clan, the Minister of the Imperial Household, the Minister of Guests, and the Minister of the Imperial Coachmen, were lucky enough to escape disaster during the reign of Emperor Jing.

But during the reign of Emperor Wu in the original historical timeline, the Nine Ministers were completely changed.

——Langzhongling was changed to Guangluxun;

——Zongzheng was changed to Zongbo;

——The original Dianke, which was renamed Daxing by Emperor Xiaojing, was changed again to Dahonglu;

——Change Dali back to Tingwei;
Then came the most crucial item - according to geographical location, the Nei Shi was divided into: You Fufeng, Zuo Fengyi, and Jingzhao Yin, each with a rank of two thousand stones, and none of them were Nine Ministers.

The lieutenants, who were originally subordinate to the Neishi, were separated and called the Zhijinwu;

Then the former Minister of Agriculture, who was in charge of agricultural affairs under the former Secretary of Internal Affairs, was renamed as the Minister of Agriculture, and replaced the Nine Ministers who originally belonged to the Secretary of Internal Affairs...

At this point, the transformation is complete.

Before Emperor Jing, the Nine Ministers of the Han Dynasty were: Nei Shi, Shao Fu, Tai Pu, Ting Wei, Wei Wei, Dian Ke, Feng Chang, Zong Zheng, and Lang Zhong Ling.

After Emperor Wu, it became: Grand Minister of Agriculture, Minister of the Imperial Household, Minister of the Court of Imperial Guards, Minister of Respects, Grand Herald, Minister of Rites, Minister of the Imperial Clan, and Minister of Honors.

It is no wonder that in later generations, people always felt that the Three Dukes and Nine Ministers of the Western Han Dynasty - especially the Nine Ministers - seemed to have twenty or thirty positions.

But in fact, during the Han Dynasty, the positions of the Three Dukes and Nine Ministers were basically one person per job.

The reason why people have this illusion is that the same official position may have two or three names during the 400-year Liu Han Dynasty - or even just the first half of the Western Han Dynasty.

Let’s get back to the present.

Before the late emperor died, he planned to change the names of Tingwei and Fengchang. Liu Rong didn't think it was a big deal and thought it was fine whether he did it or not.

Since the late emperor wanted to change it, Liu Rong changed it, just to please the late emperor in the underworld.

As for whether to do a complete historical homework in the future - change the Dianke to Dahonglu, change the Langzhongling to Guanglu Xun, etc., Liu Rong has different ideas.

In Liu Rong's opinion, whether the Nine Ministers should change their names does not depend on the emperor's personal preference.

It doesn't mean that if the emperor thinks that Dali sounds better than Tingwei and Guanglu Xun is more prestigious than Langzhongling, then he should change it.

Instead, it should be based on objective needs and from the perspective of actual effectiveness.

For example, the title of Tingwei was changed to Daxing by the previous emperor, and in history, it was changed back to Tingwei by Emperor Wu of Han.

What's the point?
It was simply that Emperor Jing thought the title of Tingwei sounded bad, and Emperor Wu thought Dali sounded even worse.

However, in Liu Rong's opinion, the reason for changing the names of the Nine Ministers, such as "I don't think it sounds good", is actually unnecessary.

If a Nine Ministers' Office is to be changed, its scope of authority and responsibility should be changed, and its effectiveness should be changed;

After the change, we will review the original name to see whether it is consistent with the performance and responsibilities after the reform.

For example, the name of the Tingwei was changed back and forth by Emperors Jing and Wu in history. No matter whether it was called Tingwei or Dali, the function of this department as the highest central judicial institution remained unchanged.

Therefore, it is completely meaningless to change the name of this department.

——Emperor Jingdi changed the name of Tingwei to Dali, which was meaningless and purely idle;

Emperor Wu changed Dali back to its original name, which was even more meaningless and boring.

Therefore, Liu Rong’s attitude towards the former Chief Justice and the current Dali is very clear.

Since it has been changed - since all the work has been meaningless, there is no need to waste more time on changing the name back.

With this energy, why not do something else?
The same logic applies - since Fengchang has been renamed Taichang, let's just call it that;
If Dianke has not been changed to Daxing, then it will not be changed - neither to Daxing nor to Dahonglu.

The title of Zong Zheng remains unchanged as Zong Bo, the title of Langzhong Ling remains unchanged as Guanglu Xun, and everything remains the same.

Focus your limited energy on meaningful things rather than on unnecessary things like taking off your pants to fart.

Of course, this does not mean that Liu Rong completely disagrees with the major reshuffle of the names and powers of the Nine Ministers that took place during the reigns of Jing and Wu in history.

Especially in the original historical timeline, Liu Rong not only did not think it was bad for Emperor Wu of Han to split the internal history, but he also agreed with it very much.

——Based on geographical division, Guanzhong is divided into three areas;

Youfufeng, Zuofengyi, Jingzhaoyin - just by hearing the names you can tell which areas these three positions are in charge of.

Changing the lieutenant to the Praetorian Guards was a change of the job title to clarify the fact that the original lieutenant's office had been separated, and at the same time it made clear the duties of the "new lieutenant": to be the stick in the emperor's hand, and to beat anyone who disobeyed.

Then the name of the Minister of Agriculture was changed to the Minister of Agriculture, and it replaced the original Nei Shi, completely subverting the political nature of the original Nei Shi's subordinate yamen "Guanzhong Xiao Prime Minister";
The "new internal historian": the Minister of Agriculture, became a true "grain management" official whose power covered the whole country, but did not take on too many responsibilities, but only specialized in agricultural affairs. This was the reform of the Nine Ministers that Liu Rong believed was necessary and had a positive effect.

Again, if you want to change something, just change its function, and then based on the new function, consider whether to change its name.

Therefore, Liu Rong planned to copy the history homework by splitting the Nei Shi into You Fufeng, Zuo Fengyi and Jingzhao Yin, changing the Zhongwei to Zhijinwu, changing the Da Nongling to Da Si Nong, and making them replace the original Nei Shi.

——Because even if Liu Rong was a time traveler, he couldn't think of a better and more appropriate plan to split the internal history.

As for the other parts, they were just some random name changes, and there was no practical significance to the "restructuring", so Liu Rong declined to take part in them.

"In this way, the new three officials are the Prime Minister, the Imperial Censor, and the Imperial Censor-in-Chief."

"The Imperial Censor, the Imperial Censor-in-Chief - both have the word 'Imperial Censor' in them. You could give one of them a different name to differentiate them."

"Um……"

"Sikong?"

"Or..."

After only a moment's thought, Liu Rong rejected this option, but he also made up his mind to change the name of one of the positions of Grand Censor or Chief Censor.

And the person who will be finally changed will most likely be the Chief Censor.

The reason is very simple: whether the Chief Censor is changed or not, everyone knows that he is the second-in-command of the Three Dukes.

However, the Chief Censor had been a subordinate of the Grand Censor for more than a hundred years. Even if Liu Rongying was promoted to the rank of the Three Dukes, he would inevitably be looked down upon.

Therefore, Liu Rong planned to change the name of the Chief Censor to one that was "more like one of the Three Dukes".

As for why the alternative of "Sikong" was rejected, it was because Situ, Sikong and Sima were not the three ancient officials who came into being during the late Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period more than 300 years later. Instead, they were the three officials who had been clearly recorded in the "Book of Documents" hundreds of years ago.

Among them, Situ corresponds to the current prime minister, Sikong corresponds to the current chief censor, and Sima corresponds to the Taiwei in the past hundred years.

Since it has been decided to abolish the position of Taiwei and replace it with Da Sima - especially since Taiwei/Da Sima has been kicked out of the list of Three Dukes, it is somewhat inappropriate for the two ancient titles of Situ and Sikong to appear among the Three Dukes.

Liu Rong can take his time to think about what to change specifically - he can even not change it first, and just let the Chief Censor serve as one of the Three Dukes for a few years, and then make the change after careful consideration.

But change must be made;

The Chief Censor must also replace the Grand Commandant and become one of the new Three Dukes of the Han Dynasty...

"As for the Nine Ministers..."

"Um……"

"The seven people, including the Minister of Imperial Household, the Minister of Imperial Guards, the Minister of Rites, the Minister of Rites, and the Minister of Internal Affairs, shall remain as before."

"——Merge Zhonglangjiang into Langzhongling, and clearly divide the powers and responsibilities of Weiwei and Langzhongling, and that will be about right."

"The remaining Neishi and Shaofu - Neishi will be officially split at the end of this year;"

"Only the Shaofu..."

Thinking about it in the end, Liu Rong was once again in a dilemma.

It must be said that now is the most appropriate and perfect time and opportunity for the Emperor of Han to move the Shaofu.

Externally, the Huns in the north suffered two consecutive defeats and came to ask for peace. In the short term - at least in the past two years - they had no energy to invade the south.

As for Zhao Tuo in the south, thanks to the Battle of Chaona between the Han and the Xiongnu and the Battle of Hetao-Mayi - two consecutive battles between the Han and the Xiongnu in which the Han Dynasty won a complete victory, the land of Baiyue in the south became visibly quieter.

Two or three years ago, around the time when the late emperor handed over power to Liu Rong, Zhao Tuo was still vaguely restless and seemed to be ready to make a big news in Lingnan.

But after the Battle of Chaona and the Battle of Hetao-Mayi, Zhao Tuo rarely even left his own palace.

The left flag of the Yellow Chamber is no longer in the palace, and the imperial decree for writing is no longer mentioned;
what?
Call the police when entering or leaving?

——Just don’t leave the palace!

There was no external military threat, and after the rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms of Wu and Chu was quelled, Guandong fell into a long period of stability that should have been expected.

The most important thing is: the current Shaofuqing Shi Fen is the weakest, most unprincipled, and most obedient to the emperor among the nearly ten Shaofuqings in the past fifty years since the Han Dynasty!
Even the former Shaofu and current Prime Minister, Marquis of Tao Liu She, did not listen to Emperor Liu Han as much as Shi Fen!

If we don't take this opportunity to strike at the Shaofu, and wait for another Shaofu who is as powerful and stubborn as the second Cen Mai to appear in the future, how can we deal with the Shaofu then?
But what Liu Rong had to consider was that the position of Shaofu was a very serious matter for the current Han Dynasty, and even for the current Emperor Liu Han.

Huge industries, huge inventories, hundreds of thousands of human resources, tens of thousands of officials, clerks, craftsmen, and apprentices;

Coupled with the huge impression that the Shaofu is spread all over the country and in all aspects, it is not an exaggeration to say that the Shaofu's 'one move can affect the whole body'.

Although Liu Rong has never experienced such a situation in his life, he has seen a lot of layoffs.

Liu Rong was very worried that his splitting and reforming of the Shaofu would become like the famous stories and anecdotes in later generations, cutting into the Han family and the main artery of himself as the Han emperor.

The most crucial point is: no matter what method and means are used to split the Shaofu, it will inevitably cause the Shaofu, which originally supported the world, to partially or completely lose its effectiveness during the pain period of reform and splitting.

The Shaofu was very powerful and huge.

So powerful that the emperors of the Qin and Han dynasties had the confidence to say, "As long as I have the Shaofu in my hands, I dare to go to war with the whole world."

However, it is so huge that no one can estimate which parts of the civilization and regime are supported by the Shaofu. If the Shaofu falls, how great the impact and disaster will be for the Chinese civilization.

Liu Rong's splitting of the Shaofu would definitely cause it to "fall" for a period of time.

Liu Rong wasn't sure whether it was labor pains or a breakdown or collapse.

Liu Rong was in a dilemma as to whether he should take action now instead of completely dealing with the Huns...

"Ah~"

"A double-edged sword..."

"A double-edged sword~"

...

"Zhang Han, the young official of Qin, was able to turn the tide, support the collapsing edifice, and give the Qin Dynasty its last breath;"

"But he could also turn against his country, betray his country and join the enemy, and put the final nail in the coffin of the Qin Dynasty..."

“——It’s difficult~”

“Too difficult…”

(End of this chapter)