My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 404: The Prime Minister is also a human?
"Your Majesty is really not quiet at all this year..."

Chang'an, the prime minister's residence.

After using great efforts to appease the officials who came to persuade him to "give advice at the risk of his life", Prime Minister Liu She, who had finally found some time to catch his breath, felt exhausted.

The court in Chang'an already has a lot to do.

——Externally, the Baiyue in the south and the Yi in the southwest have calmed down a lot, but the Korean Peninsula in the northeast has never been peaceful.

Although it was far from the stability of the Han Dynasty's Far East today, there were still constant small conflicts.

And the North.

On the strategic level, the main force of the Shanyu Court, which set out at the turn of spring and summer this year and would not be able to return until autumn next year at the earliest, gave the Han Dynasty a period of stability that lasted for more than a year, almost two years.

If Liu She were to make the decision, then the precious two years should certainly be used to recuperate and at the same time speed up the digestion of the two counties of Shuofang and Wuyuan, that is, the Hetao region.

But Liu Rong was obviously unwilling to miss such a godsend opportunity, and wanted to take advantage of the Xiongnu's busy westward advance to make some moves in Hexi...

Internally, there are even more things to do.

The restructuring and changes in the levels of the Three Dukes and Nine Ministers, and the reorganization and reorganization of the Chang'an Imperial Guard system - these were earth-shaking changes that had never happened since the Han Dynasty, or even in history.

These alone were enough to overload the Chang'an court, and some of its efforts were still unsuccessful.

If on this basis, a bombshell is added to define the political status of Empress Dowager Lu...

"Ah~"

"Whenever His Majesty opens his mouth, we, the ministers, have to run ourselves to death..."

“Ouch;”

"My old bones..."

Muttering to himself with a bitter look on his face, Liu She did not forget to turn sideways and pound his waist seriously.

As one of the few "second-generation marquises" left in the Han Dynasty, Liu She is already very old.

His father, Liu Xiang, the first Marquis of Tao, was a member of the Overlord clan whose original name was Xiang Xiang. He was a figure in the late Qin and early Han dynasties and died in the tenth year of Emperor Taizong (170 BC).

Founding heroes who died in the same period included Guan Ying, Marquis of Yingyin (in the fifth year of Emperor Taizong's reign) and Zhou Bo, Marquis of Jiang (in the eleventh year of Emperor Taizong's reign).

In this way, Liu She, the second Marquis of Tao, is actually of the same generation as Li Ji, the second Marquis of Quzhou, and Zhou Yafu, the second Marquis of Jiang.

Considering that Zhou Yafu was not Zhou Bo’s eldest son, Liu She’s peers were basically old men of the same age as Li Ji.

——Li Ji is already over seventy years old.

The young boy who, in his early twenties, followed his father Li Shang to make great achievements under the command of Pei Gong and King of Han has long since become an old man in his twilight years.

Although Liu She is slightly younger than Li Ji, he is nearly seventy years old today.

For an old man of this age, whether it is the bloody battlefield or the heavy government affairs in the court, it is actually not suitable anymore...

"Perhaps, it's time~"

"Ugh……"

"Wei Qihou, you are not yet qualified to be the Prime Minister..."

As soon as the thought of retiring had come to his mind, Liu She subconsciously rejected it. He lowered his head again and dealt with the pile of government affairs with a sigh.

After the current Liu Rong ascended the throne, the candidates for the future prime ministers of the Han Dynasty have basically become clear.

——The current Prime Minister Liu She was originally the "stopgap measure" of the previous emperor, but now he has become the only choice before the next Prime Minister takes office.

The next prime minister had already taken shape during the reign of the previous emperor - Dou Ying, Marquis of Weiqi.

However, his career as prime minister in the past few years has made Liu She understand more and more deeply that not everyone can hold the position of prime minister.

Even Dou Ying would only have the ability to be a prime minister one day in the future.

And now, Dou Ying still needs to apprentice honestly.

Otherwise - if they force Dou Ying to the position of prime minister, the Han family will have to endure Dou Ying's on-the-job training for the next few years.

At other times, this might be fine.

After all, since the Han Dynasty, there have been prime ministers who took office first and then studied.

But Liu Rong couldn't do that during this period.

——Look at the current situation. The government affairs and problems that need to be solved inside and outside the court have piled up, which has made even a mature prime minister like Liu She inexplicably have the urge to retire!
For a workaholic like Liu Rong, if there really were a prime minister who took office first and then learned on the job, who knows how much chaos would be caused.

As for after Dou Ying, there were several candidates, but none of them was as certain as Dou Ying, who was sure to be the prime minister as long as nothing unexpected happened.

——The current Internal History, the candidate for the new Three Dukes currently being drafted: the Chief Censor, the former Liang Internal History Han Anguo;
According to the information Liu She currently has, after Liu She has been safely seated as prime minister and Dou Ying has been promoted from Grand Censor to prime minister, the position of Grand Censor left by Dou Ying when he was appointed prime minister will most likely be filled by Han Anguo.

As for whether Han Anguo can complete the "progress" from Imperial Censor to Prime Minister, it depends on the future direction of Han Anguo's political career and the quality of talents emerging in the Han Dynasty in the next few decades.

After all, Liu She is still the prime minister now, and he will probably stay in office for several more years;

After these few years, if Dou Ying takes the position of prime minister again, I am afraid that it will be impossible for him to step down alive without another ten or twenty years, or an unexpected event of political turmoil.

By the time the Han family needed to consider whether Han Anguo could become prime minister, it was at least twenty years later.

By that time, who knows whether among the officials in the court there will be a late-coming talent for governing the country who will replace Han Anguo's position.

Han Anguo is not young either.

Twenty years later, when he is in his seventies, if he still cannot become a prime minister, he will have basically no chance in this life.

——We can't really let Han Anguo wait until he is over 90 years old just to be an honorary prime minister for a few months, right?

As for the present, no matter how exhausted Liu She is physically and mentally, and no matter how powerless he is, he still has to grit his teeth and persevere.

no way;
Liu She was not a "Han Prime Minister" in the popular sense.

Unlike the past, Prime Minister Xiao He who dared to retort to Emperor Taizu Liu Bang that "one cannot establish authority without magnificence", Prime Minister Cao Shen who dared to criticize Emperor Xiaohui as "the holy emperor who governs with ease", and Prime Minister Zhang Cang who quit his job and went home at the slightest disagreement: Liu She was a lucky minister.

And he is a hereditary favored retainer of the family.

Right now, if there were a new prime minister, Liu Rong would probably have to confront him head-on.

But Liu She couldn't.

The only thing Liu She could do was to carry out the emperor's will conscientiously and honestly like an old ox after symbolic persuasion and reminder.

This made Liu She very uncomfortable.

——Obeying the emperor's will and promoting and implementing it unconditionally was no problem for Liu She, at most he felt a little aggrieved.

The Taohou family has never been afraid of being wronged by the emperor.

In fact, the greater the grievance, the happier the Taohou family is.

But since Liu She was the prime minister of Han, he had to shoulder the responsibilities that a prime minister should bear to a certain extent.

For example, when the emperor is dissatisfied with a decision made by the outer court, or when the outer court is dissatisfied with a decision made by the emperor, they act as a buffer and mediator between the two.

For example, this time, Liu Rong wanted to "touch" Empress Dowager Lu, and the people outside the court were very excited, and almost everyone thought that Liu Rong was crazy!
Even among Liu Rong's former staff in the Prince's Palace and his confidants in the palace, quite a number of them privately expressed their confusion about Liu Rong's move.

At this time, the prime minister should actually "be the first among all officials" and enter the palace as a representative of the outer court to negotiate with the emperor. Afterwards, either the prime minister is persuaded by the emperor and then goes back to persuade the outer court;

Or, the emperor was persuaded by the prime minister and thus "repented and returned to the right path" and retracted the decision that caused an uproar in the court.

Of course, there is also a third situation: neither the emperor nor the prime minister can convince the other.

For example, during the reign of Emperor Taizong, Emperor Xiaowen and Prime Minister Zhang Cang were unable to convince each other about changing the era name to Huanglong.

Therefore, Emperor Taizong had no choice but to dismiss the prime minister violently and end the dispute on a physical level - if you don't listen to me, get out!

There are plenty of people who dare not take up the position of Prime Minister!
There was also the dispute between the late Emperor Xiaojing and the former Prime Minister Shentu Jia over the "Plan to Reduce the Powers of the Feudatories".

Same recipe, same taste - the emperor insisted on his own way, the prime minister firmly opposed, the two sides were tit-for-tat, and neither could convince the other.

In this timeline, the final outcome of this dispute was resolved as gently as possible by the butterfly wings fanned by the time traveler Liu Rong.

But in the original historical timeline, the final outcome of this dispute was not much better than the dispute between Emperor Taizong and Zhang Cang.

——Emperor Xiaojing strongly advocated the reduction of the power of the princes, but Prime Minister Shentu Jia refused to obey even at death!

Therefore, in order to remove Shentu Jia, who was an obstacle to the "Plan for Reducing the Powers of the Feudal States", Emperor Jing and his mentor Chao Cuo joined forces to stage a good show.

First, Chao Cuo deliberately dug up the wall connecting the Neishi Yamen and the Taimiao, pretending that he was "creating trouble by taking a detour", and deliberately let Shentu Jia know about it.

Then, Shentu Jia, who thought he had caught Chao Cuo, went into the palace with a gloating look on his face and complained to Emperor Jing.

Then, Emperor Jingdi said, "Prime Minister, don't be so petty and stop targeting my people." This angered the old prime minister to death...

It’s actually quite interesting.

The old prime minister Shentu Jia was angered to death by the historical Emperor Jingdi;

And Emperor Jing himself was so angry that he came to life because of Li Ji's call of "old dog"!

How can one word describe it...

In the current timeline, these things did not happen in the end because of the disruption caused by the intrusive time traveler Liu Rong.

But this does not mean that if something similar happens again, it will not eventually evolve into some extremely bad consequences.

In other words, there should usually be three situations between the emperor and the prime minister.

——Either the emperor persuades the prime minister, or the prime minister persuades the emperor, or no one can persuade anyone else, and the emperor finally dismisses the prime minister.

But for Liu She, it was not one of these three situations.

Especially the last one, 'no one can convince anyone', which is impossible to happen to Prime Minister Liu She.

The ancestors and grandchildren of the Taohou family: swear allegiance to the Holy Emperor until death, and be loyal to whoever is the Emperor;

Under the "reminder" of this ancestral precept, Liu She could only try to persuade them.

Once he found that he could not persuade the emperor - once the emperor uttered the classic words "I have made up my mind", Liu She's only choice was to submit and obey the emperor.

This led to the situation that at this time - when there was a disagreement between the outer court and the emperor, Liu She was simply caught between the two, being neither a popular figure nor a popular figure.

The emperor would say: What happened to Tao Hou?

Could it be that the position of Prime Minister was appointed by the court, and not by my father, Emperor Xiaojing?

People outside the court would also ask: What's wrong with the Prime Minister?

Could it be that the duties of the Prime Minister are so humble in the eyes of Tao Hou, that he has no integrity or responsibility as the head of all officials?
Liu She did everything he should do;
Liu She was also scolded for what he didn't deserve...

"Marquis Wei Qi, ah, Marquis Wei Qi~"

"Ugh……"

After another long sigh, Liu She put down the brush in his hand again and sighed tiredly.

too difficult.

It is really difficult to be a prime minister with "congenital defects".

If you want the horse to run, you have to feed it grass;
If you want the general to be majestic, you have to give him dignity.

——The equality of rights and obligations is an eternal truth.

While Liu She's special political attribute as a "lucky minister" brought him "conveniences" that were unattainable to others in most of the time, it also led to Liu She's unavoidable limitations in such extremely rare cases.

Deep down, Liu She was a little depressed after serving as prime minister for these years.

Thoughts like "If it happens again, I will never be the prime minister" have also appeared in Liu She's mind.

It is not an exaggeration to say that the reason why Liu She still sat on the prime minister's seat and continued to be a "lucky prime minister" was more out of consideration for the interests of his family.

When he is dying in the future, Liu She will most likely leave a legacy for the Taohou family: "If possible, you must never become a prime minister."

As for now...

"His Majesty……"

"Your Majesty, could it be intentional..."

...

"Intentionally increasing the burden on the Prime Minister's Office and even the entire outer court, so as to..."

"Dismantling the Prime Minister's Residence?"

"Or maybe it's a restructuring..."

"Ah;"

"Reform..."

Shaking his head with a sneer, Liu She let out a long sigh, stood up from the desk, walked to the window with his hands behind his back, and gazed leisurely into the distance.

Liu She could not have failed to sense Liu Rong's ambition for reform.

The bureaucratic reform that affected most of the court also made Liu She vaguely sense something.

It's just that this idea is too outrageous, this speculation is too shocking;

Even with this speculation, Liu She still couldn't believe it: The current Liu Rong really has the courage to move the prime minister's office and the prime minister system.

Until these few days;
It was not until Liu Rong made up his mind to touch the epic taboo of Empress Dowager Lu that Liu She finally dared to let this speculation appear in his mind again.

——If he even dared to touch Empress Dowager Lu, what else would Liu Rong not dare to do?

Compared with Empress Dowager Lu, it was just the system of prime minister's office and chancellor.

However, if Liu Rong really had this idea in mind - to "first tire the prime minister to death, and then take advantage of the situation to propose reforms", then Liu She would probably...

"Ugh……"

"Born as a human being, why should I be a minister?"

(End of this chapter)