My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 397 Hi, the New Year is coming soon

"Back then, when Emperor Taizong succeeded to the throne, he could not appoint even the Weiwei and Langzhongling people he trusted."

"As a last resort, we created a general guard, and finally took control of the forbidden area."

"As for the positions of officials in the court, they were not gradually introduced until the death of the Prime Minister, Chen Ping, the Marquis of Quni."

Chang'an City, Prime Minister's Mansion.

Burying his head at his desk, concentrating on dealing with the bamboo slips and files in front of him, Prime Minister Liu She was extremely tired and couldn't help but start to complain.

"Emperor Xiaojing was enthroned, and although all the nine ministers were replaced within a year, he was eventually fully fledged and everything came naturally."

"I originally thought that Your Majesty had not thought about the Nine Ministers in the past few years and was not in a hurry to place his followers in the court;"

"But I never thought that Your Majesty's performance this time could be described as either keeping silent or making a stunning debut..."

Hearing Liu She's complaints without even raising his head, the Imperial Censor Dou Ying, who was also too busy to raise his head and inexplicably regretted lent a hand in the Prime Minister's residence, could not help but smile bitterly and shook his head.

No wonder Liu She complained.

In fact, this time, the scale of Liu Rong's actions was so large that even great Confucian scholars like Dou Ying and old ministers like Liu She could not help but secretly smack their lips in amazement.

If these two were like this, let alone those inside and outside the court - they would have been arguing to the sky a long time ago!
Some people opposed Liu Rong's reform, saying that "the laws of our ancestors should not be changed without authorization";

There are those who have a tacit attitude towards this reform, but want to gain more benefits for their subordinate offices.

For example, the Shaofu was split into a Zhujue Duwei to be the new Nine Ministers, and the East and West Weaving Rooms, which were responsible for their own profits and losses, and the Taicang was assigned to the Minister of Agriculture.
In addition, Dongyuan, which was mainly responsible for the production of funerary objects and sacrificial offerings, was also transferred from Shaofu to Fengchang.

It is no exaggeration to say that after this series of dismantlings, the entire court, inside and outside, has set its eyes on the fat piece of meat of the Shaofu!
It just so happens that the current Shaofuqing Shi Fen really lives up to the title of "the most cowardly Shaofu since the Han Dynasty".

No matter who came to Shi Fen and said, "Why don't you split up the xx department and give it to us," Shi Fen would always smile and answer, "I can't make the decision on this matter. Please ask His Majesty directly..."

The same goes for the Internal History - the Lieutenant became the new Nine Ministers and the Praefectus Imperial Guard, plus a Da Nong, as well as the General of the Five Officials assigned to the Imperial Palace Ling, and the Commandant of Preventing Thieves assigned to the Dali (Tingwei).

Some of the remaining soup was also wanted by the nine ministers.

If that were all, it would be fine.

After all, he is a mature old prime minister. No matter what happens to Liu She, he can work with Dou Ying to get the job done.

It just so happens that the affairs of the Shaofu and Neishi families are only a small and insignificant part, or even a very small part, of Liu Rong's reform.

Right now, Liu She is busy with the document to remove Dianke from the ranks of the Nine Ministers and to change Weiwei from one of the Nine Ministers in the court to a purely military position.

The former is easy to say - among the three dukes and nine ministers of the Han Dynasty, the officials in charge of the imperial court have always been raised by stepmothers and can be bullied by anyone.

But the latter is much more complicated.

Furthermore, although the Shaofu is about to be split up, the main body is still retained, but some redundant departments have been divided out, and the departmental powers are still very clear.

However, the thorough dismantling of the Nei Shi gave Liu She a huge headache.

——What kind of model and structure should be used to establish the three departments of Zuo Fengyi, You Fufeng and Jingzhao Yin, which were split from the main body of the Internal History? How should they be operated and what specific affairs should they be responsible for?
What are the differences between the powers of the Praefectus Urbi (Lieutenant), who has been promoted to the rank of Nine Ministers, and what are the additional powers?

The General of the Five Officials has been merged into the Commander-in-Chief. Then, will the affairs concerning the imperial carriage's entourage, which were originally the responsibility of the Commander-in-Chief and the General of the Five Officials, be handled by the Commander-in-Chief alone, or will another department be found to provide checks and balances?

Should the Duwei of Beidaozi, who was assigned to Dali (Tingwei), be used as a reserve force to fight against bandits as in the past, or should he be changed into a special officer responsible for investigating cases and arresting bandits?
The most important thing is: what kind of department should Da Nong become?
Is it to collect agricultural taxes from all over the world?

Or teach everyone in the world how to farm?
Or maybe it covers all matters related to agriculture, such as encouraging farming, collecting taxes, and even building and maintaining water conservancy projects?

As the saying goes, when the emperor opens his mouth, his subjects run themselves ragged.

Liu Rong waved his hand and made a list of the reform results he wanted to achieve. However, the specific operation process was completely left to the outer court controlled by Liu She.

Unfortunately, this matter was of great importance, and Liu She did not dare to delegate these matters to others, so he had to do it himself so as not to disappoint Liu Rong's "trust".

Since the turn of spring and summer, when Liu Rong had expressed the intention of reforming the court system, and now that the autumn harvest has passed - it took Liu She nearly half a year to accomplish all of the above.

But compared to the remaining workload, what has been completed is still less than half.

——A military and political system headed by the Grand Marshal (Grand Commander), which is completely independent of the court administrative system!

Although the Grand Marshal was the former Grand Commandant, and the General and the General of Chariots and Cavalry remained unchanged, but even if only a Weiwei was pulled from the original Nine Ministers camp into this military formation system, Liu She would still be busy!
A very simple truth;

Since it is a military position, the Weiwei should naturally obey the orders of the supreme military leader: the Grand Marshal, just like every general.

But the key to the problem is: the military position of Weiwei is responsible for guarding the imperial palace!

How could the Weiwei, who guards the imperial palace, obey the orders of anyone other than the emperor?
Even in the past, the Weiwei did not only obey the emperor, but also had a close relationship with the outer court;
But no matter what, the Weiwei, who is in charge of the imperial guards, should not be allowed to obey the orders of the Grand Marshal, who holds the military power of the world!

The answer to this question is self-evident: the Weiwei must not be controlled by the Grand Marshal.

To be precise, after being incorporated into the independent military and political system headed by the Grand Sima, belonging to the same system as the Grand Sima, and with a clearly lower job level than the Grand Sima and should be under the control of the Grand Sima, it is still necessary to ensure that the Weiwei is not constrained by the Grand Sima.

This made Liu She, the experienced old prime minister, scratch his head.

Another issue is the defense of the capital Chang'an and the East and West Palaces after the General Wei was completely dismissed.

In the past, the military ranks of the Han Dynasty were: Taiwei - Dajiangjun/Weijiangjun - Chariot and Cavalry General - Shangjiangjun, and so on;
In principle, this is a one-way management relationship - the Grand Marshal can manage the General and the General of Guards, the General of Chariots and Cavalry must obey the orders of the General, and the General must also obey the orders of the General of Chariots and Cavalry.

But according to Liu Rong, everything is about to change drastically.

——The Grand Marshal was changed to Grand Marshal, and he was still the "Grand Marshal of the Army of the World" in theory, but he was absolutely not allowed to interfere in the military affairs in the capital area.

As for the next level general, and the Weiwei who replaced the general, the former had the unspoken political rule that "only relatives of the emperor can be generals", and they were not much controlled by the Taiwei.
The latter was undoubtedly the commander of the imperial guards, and it was even less likely that he would follow the orders of the Grand Marshal.

So, the problem arises.

——The Grand Marshal, as the undisputed leader of the Han military, had no power to effectively manage or lead the second-in-command, the Generalissimo and the Guards!

It is like the Han army system, there is a gap at this level, the superiors can't control the subordinates at all;

Or it should be said that it is like the Grand Marshal, the General, and the Guard, just like the three officials in the court, who have a separation of powers at the same level.

Just like in the imperial court, the prime minister is the head of all officials - the Grand Marshal is the head of all generals in the army;

However, just as the Prime Minister controls everything but cannot control the Grand Censor and the Deputy Censor, who are also the Three Dukes, the Grand Marshal also cannot control the generals and the Imperial Guards, who are seemingly one level lower than him but are actually not under his control at all and can be regarded as of the same level as him.

Liu She was also troubled by how to do this.

In addition to the administrative system of the three dukes and nine ministers in the imperial court, an independent military and political system was established, which put a lot of pressure on public opinion.
If in this military-political system, a 'Three Military Dukes' or even 'Nine Military Ministers' with a strong imitation meaning were to be created, then Liu She would have no chance of getting things done for Liu Rong - he would not be able to get past the hurdle of the outer court alone!

At this point, Liu She had a lot of problems to worry about - a lot, a lot, a lot;

But it’s not over yet.

The position of General Wei was abolished, and the Weiwei was transferred to a military position and had the same status as the general, which means that the Weiwei replaced the former General Wei.

In other words, the future Weiwei, like the Wei Jiangjun in the past, was the person with the highest responsibility for all city defense, guarding, and imperial guard work in the capital Chang'an.

All matters related to the military affairs in the Chang'an area, such as the northern and southern armies, the Imperial Guards, and the defense forces in the Chang'an area, will from now on be under the command of the Weiwei.

This posed another difficult problem for Liu She.

——The reason why General Wei was abandoned is because there is no effective means of checking and balancing him;
As the saying goes: absolute power breeds absolute corruption.

Whether it was the General Wei in the past or the Weiwei in the future, their power in the military sphere around Chang'an was too "absolute".

Therefore, Liu She wanted to find an equal opponent for the future Weiwei. Well, give him a rank of 2,000 stone, who was on par with the general, theoretically lower than the Sima, but in reality he was not even as good as the Sima, to find an opponent who could check and balance each other...

Also.

Still not over.

When talking about the imperial guards and the defense forces near Chang'an City, we have to mention the countless points that Liu Rong wanted to mobilize this time.

——The issue of the northern and southern armies being transformed into field armies, and the two guards of Yulin Huben being reorganized into imperial guards.

Call ~
How to say it;

If I had to use words to describe Liu She's emotional state at the moment, it would definitely be: &%*￥#@~
It's already a mess...

But Liu She had to think about these things.

If you think about it too much, you will become weird and your thoughts will jump around randomly.

Fortunately, after this period of time as an "apprentice" in the Prime Minister's Mansion, Dou Ying's mental state did not improve much.

Liu She's chattering was like that of a Dian Gong, and he could actually predict the same thing as Dou Ying!

"Have you ever heard about the Embroidered Uniform Guards, Marquis Wei Qi?"

Liu She asked casually without even looking up;
"Well, I heard about it."

"As expected of Emperor Taizong."

"It's hidden really deeply."

...

“That’s not surprising.”

"Think of Zhou Ren, a descendant of the Zhou royal family. He restored the family and the title for Emperor Taizong, continued the family lineage, and continued the incense and blood offerings."

"Such a great favor, to be disrespectful - even the old queen mother of the current dynasty is probably not as worthy of the trust of Emperor Taizong and Emperor Xiaojing as Zhou Ren."

"After all, this favor is really too great."

"It's so great that even Zhou Ren's lineage may not be able to repay it in full..."

After Dou Ying finished speaking, there was silence in the room.

After a long while, Liu She's thoughts jumped again.

"Master Commander, your Majesty had someone in mind at the time."

"But I don't know who Your Majesty wants to appoint as the Minister of Agriculture and the Prefect of the Guards."

"As for the Chief Censor, he is one of the Three Dukes, so we cannot keep the old people."

"——Han Anguo?"

"Or..."

Still speaking casually without raising his head, Dou Ying was also concentrating on his work. He raised his hand to pick up the tea bowl and took a sip.

"It must be Han Anguo."

"In the past, the rank of Chief Censor was only 1,000 stones, so it is inappropriate to suddenly promote him to 2,000 stones."

"——Officials with a rank of 1,000 dan should first be promoted to rank equal to 2,000 dan, then to 2,000 dan, true 2,000 dan, and finally to middle 2,000 dan."

"Directly advancing to level 4 is not something your majesty can do."

"It is probably to let the former Internal History Han Anguo be promoted to the position of Chief Censor, one of the Three Dukes, and then let the old Chief Censor assist him..."

The topic ended and there was another silence.

This time, the two of them worked seriously for a long time.

In the end, Liu She, whose mental state was still worrying, was perhaps too exhausted and could not bear it any longer. He was the first to put down the brush in his hand and looked up at Dou Ying with lifeless eyes.

"There's been no news about Nanpi Hou recently?"

"It is said that Cheng Buzhi was appointed governor of Shuofang County, and Zhidu was appointed governor of Yanmen.

"The remaining Wuyuan County, Beidi County, and Shang County, are all..."

"Well, there is also Yunzhong County."

"Ever since Wei Shang's death, Yunzhong has always been a source of worry for Your Majesty..."

If it was Liu She who had been chatting intentionally or unintentionally before, then with this question, Liu She was obviously trying to test Dou Ying's attitude.

As expected - almost as soon as Liu She finished speaking, Dou Ying came back to his senses from his concentrated work, took a deep breath, and then gave Liu She a strange smile with deep meaning.

After a long while, Fang shook his head and smiled bitterly, "Nanpi Hou made a mistake that year and lost the trust of His Majesty."

"——Compared to the two previous emperors Taizong and Xiaojing, Your Majesty is not heartless, but he is definitely not a person who cares about old feelings."

"Especially when it comes to employing people, I think it's better to trust people when you employ them, and not to employ people you don't trust."

As he spoke, Dou Ying raised his hand and smiled, sweeping it over Liu She and himself respectively.

"For example, right now, Your Majesty has asked the two of us to take charge of this matter, and you have hardly asked about it."

"This is to trust the people you employ."

"And the Marquis of Nanpi, the failure of that year finally chilled the heart of Your Majesty."

"This is because the person you doubt should not be used..."

"——Marquis Nanpi has become a 'suspect' of your majesty~"

"Instead of worrying about the future of Nanpi Hou, we two should just hurry up."

"Your Majesty has set a deadline for this reform..."

Seeing that he couldn't get anything out of him, Liu She didn't bother to ask any more questions.

He just took advantage of the situation, picked up the pen again with a smile, and threw himself back into the complicated work.

But he still didn't forget to mutter one last sentence: "I am so old..."

"Your Majesty, you don't know how to show some mercy..."

"——Hi~"

"——The New Year is coming soon;"

"——There are officials and subordinate offices inside and outside the court, and they are all the same."

(End of this chapter)