My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 441 Iteration!

"Prime Minister Tao Hou and minister Liu She bow their heads in respect and kowtow to you at the cost of their lives!"

When the reform plan for the ministers was finalized and the reporting on the plan was completed, the next topic would naturally be the new personnel transfers after the reform of the court system.

The beginning of this topic was when Prime Minister Liu She stood up again.

But this time, Liu She did not come out to make a report or come up with a plan.

Liu She stepped forward and bowed, then lowered his head and put his hand into his chest.

When Liu She touched the memorial that had been prepared long ago and even submitted repeatedly but was rejected without exception, he froze in his tracks, with a sense of disappointment welling up between his brows.

After ten breaths, Liu She took a deep breath and then smiled.

He took out a handful of bamboo slips, held them in front of his chest with both hands, and bowed deeply again.

"I, your humble servant, beg to retire..."

There was no expected shock in the room, nor was there the noisy conversation that is bound to occur when "news" breaks in the court.

Almost everyone cast a complex look with a hint of sigh at Liu She, who was pretending to be free and easy and calm, but in fact even his back exuded a strong sense of reluctance and melancholy.

——The rabbit's death makes the fox mourn, which is certainly one of the aspects.

On the other hand, it is also a recognition of the work done by Prime Minister Liu She over the past four years.

As everyone knows, the prime ministers of the Han Dynasty were truly worse than the previous generation.

From the beginning, there were founding heroes like Xiao He, Cao Shen, and Wang Ling;
Later, the second echelon of founding the country included Chen Ping, Zhou Bo, Guan Ying and others who were slightly inferior.

In the second half of Emperor Taizong's reign, Zhang Cang emerged. He was not only a founding father, but also a man of real talent and a "university clique". He raised the quality curve of Han prime ministers.

But after Zhang Cang, the quality of the prime ministers of the Han Dynasty generally continued to decline steadily, with intermittent sharp declines.

—— Zhang Cang's successor, Shentu Jia, was ridiculed by quite a few people until the day he resigned, saying that "each Han prime minister is inferior to the previous one";
Zhou Yafu, who came after Shentu Jia, was one of the representative figures who caused the quality curve of Han Dynasty's prime ministers to take a sharp turn and decline sharply.

By the time of Liu She - who was about to be appointed prime minister at that time, people inside and outside the court, and even public opinion, had already become numb.

As for Prime Minister Liu She, almost everyone in the world said: It’s over;

Hopeless.

The prime ministers of the Han Dynasty, from the first founding fathers to the second-tier heroes;

Then there are the quasi-founding heroes like Shentu Jia and the second generation of military merit marquises like Zhou Yafu;

By the time it came to Liu She, he was able to get his hands on even a lucky and treacherous minister - a descendant of the Xiang family who was granted a title because he betrayed Xiang Yu.

Such was the reputation back then. Naturally, everyone had a very deep prejudice against Prime Minister Liu She.

On weekdays, among the officials, ministers, meritorious officials and nobles in the court, there were endless jokes about Liu She being a "monkey in human clothing".

But today, when Liu She formally begged Liu Rong for his remains for the first time in such a formal occasion as the court meeting, everyone finally got the feeling.

——His~
——Liu She has done a pretty good job in recent years, hasn’t he?

——Why do you feel a little reluctant?

Recalling what Liu She did in the past few years as prime minister, perhaps no one can remember any specific events or affairs.

But if we say: In the past few years, Prime Minister Liu She has made some mistakes, which has caused the prime minister's office to not function smoothly and the court's policies to not be implemented?
No one can remember it either.

In fact, the position of prime minister is exactly what a great military strategist named Sun said: Those who are good at fighting do not have to have great achievements.

To put it more precisely, a good ruler does not have many political achievements.

No matter what, the prime minister is not a general.

A general who has made great achievements can behead thousands of people and expand the territory by thousands of miles;

How can a prime minister achieve merit in governing a country?

Open up thousands of miles of wasteland?
Or will the population grow by tens of millions or millions of households?

After all, for any internal governance position, including the prime minister, it is difficult to ensure that one does not make mistakes while achieving political achievements.

If you want to achieve political achievements, you have to do something tricky;

As we all know, the "sao" in "sao operation" has two completely opposite interpretations, one positive and one negative.

In the new era of the future, in order to keep up with the trend of the times, especially for the great rejuvenation of the nation and the rapid strengthening of the country, bureaucrats may need to have more courage to do things and the ability to achieve political achievements;

But in the feudal era, especially in the current Han Dynasty, which has been adhering to the policy of inaction for decades and is still in the stage of "resting and recuperating to become infinitely stronger", the real ability of an official is not to do fancy operations;

But don't make mistakes.

Take the most typical representative of civil servants and internal governance talent since the Han Dynasty, Xiao He, the Marquis of Ying, as an example.

Why is Xiao He undoubtedly the first meritorious official in the founding of the Han Dynasty?

The fact that Xiao He ranked first on Emperor Taizu Liu Bang's list of 'Eighteen Founding Lords' was certainly one of the important factors.

But more importantly, Emperor Taizu Liu Bang later said: "In terms of planning strategies behind the curtains and winning battles thousands of miles away, I am not as good as Zifang.
In stabilizing the state, comforting the people, providing food and supplies, and ensuring that the grain supply is not cut off, I am not as good as Xiao He;

Even with a million troops, I can win every battle and capture every city, but I am not as good as Han Xin...

This sentence established the historical status of Xiao He, Zhang Liang and Han Xin as the "Three Heroes of the Early Han Dynasty".

However, Liu Bang's comments on these three people actually give people very different feelings.

——It is said that Zhang Liang was able to plan and win battles thousands of miles away. He was like a top strategist with clairvoyance, even more awesome than Zhuge Liang!
There is no doubt about Han Xin - he would win every battle and capture every city even with an army of millions. Throughout the 5,000-year history of China, he is an extremely rare top-notch "general"!
But when it came to Xiao He, it became: stabilize the country, comfort the people, provide food and wages, and ensure the food supply.

Just like the three heroes of the early Han Dynasty, Zhang Liang was a cheat-level strategist, and Han Xin was an epic commander;

And Xiao He was just a prime minister who did his job well.

If we simply rank these three people in order of their awesomeness based on Liu Bang's comments, the first one might be controversial - Zhang Liang and Han Xin, one is a counselor and the other is a commander, both are equally good;

But it is an obvious fact that Xiao He is obviously inferior to these two.

However, the fact is: in the eyes of Emperor Taizu of Han, Liu Bang, neither the strategist Zhang Liang nor the invincible military genius Han Xin was enough to shake Xiao He's transcendent status as "the first meritorious marquis of the founding of the country."

why?
The reason is that for the prime minister, doing his job well is a huge problem;
As long as it is done well, it is undoubtedly the first credit.

To put it bluntly, during Liu Bang's rise to power, what the sage Zhang Liang had to consider was the overall strategic direction of the Han army.

It was difficult, but Zhang Liang only had to worry about this one thing. Similarly, the only thing Han Xin, the military genius, had to worry about was fighting.

It is indeed difficult to win every battle, especially when commanding a large army of tens or even millions of people.
But Han Xin also did not need to be distracted. He only needed to focus on one thing, which was "how to win the battle."

Let’s look at Xiao He.

It sounds like "comforting the people" and "providing food and money", and it seems that any decent civil servant can do a good job of this job.

But the fact is: except for the overall strategy which Zhang Liang was responsible for and the military command which Han Xin was responsible for, Xiao He had to take charge of almost all other matters.

——In Guanzhong, the rear base that had just been conquered, Xiao He had to suppress and appease;

It is necessary to wipe out the remnants of bandits and appease the people.

At the same time, we must restore social stability to the greatest extent possible and as quickly as possible to encourage farming and supply food and supplies to the front line.

Xiao He was in charge of the Crown Prince Liu Ying, who was sent back to the rear by Liu Bang, as well as the families and children of the generals and meritorious officials.
Xiao He was in charge of all the big and small things going on inside and outside the court.

As the country was about to be established, Xiao He also had to take care of the appeasement and winning over of the people's hearts before the founding of the country, as well as the construction of laws and systems.

Xiao He even had to rebuild the Guanzhong region, which had been reduced to ruins by two wars, and restore social order while collecting taxes to supply the front.
It was even necessary to recruit additional soldiers and generals to clean up the mess for Emperor Taizu Liu Bang, who had defeated the 560,000-strong coalition force of the princes in the Battle of Pengcheng.

To put it in the most vivid way: Zhang Liang's strategic planning and Han Xin's victory in every battle are equivalent to letting a mathematical genius concentrate on solving an epic mathematical problem.

What Xiao He had to do were thousands of these ordinary questions, and every time he finished one, three more would immediately appear, making them countless ordinary questions that he could never finish.

Zhang Liang and Han Xin, of course, each answered a difficult question of epic level correctly;

However, Xiao He handed in full marks on countless common questions whose magnitude reached positive infinity.

This is the solid foundation for Xiao He to be the first meritorious marquis of the founding of the Han Dynasty.

At the same time, it is also the most standard template for the Prime Minister of the Han Dynasty.

——You can be a prime minister for half your life, but you don’t have even one outstanding achievement;

You can, but it is best not to do anything rash in your life;
But you must make fewer mistakes, and it is best not to make any mistakes.

If you make too many mistakes, then you are not good enough.

If you don’t make many mistakes, then you are pretty standard;
If you make fewer mistakes, then you are a wise minister.

As for not making mistakes?
OK, you are the second Xiao He!
no way.

——In the feudal era, even if the prime minister did not take the initiative to do anything, there were still countless affairs waiting for him to deal with passively.

Handled well, or even 'mostly handled well', is remarkable in itself.

Therefore, at this moment, recalling Liu She's career as prime minister in the past few years, everyone realized belatedly: Liu She, as prime minister, did a pretty good job, even if we ignore his identity as a "lucky and flattering minister" and regard him as a prime minister who came to power through normal channels.

Although he served as prime minister for only four years, you have to know that these four years were the four years with the most drastic and frequent reforms in the Han Dynasty's internal and external strategic situations and internal system and institutions since the founding of the Han Dynasty!
First, the rebellion of the Seven States of Wu and Chu was put down, which basically solved the problem of the clan princes being too powerful and separatist in local areas!
Then came the current Crown Prince Liu Rong, who served as regent, and later the previous emperor passed away and the current emperor ascended the throne - this was the entire process of the handover of power.

Then there were the affairs after the death of the late emperor, the rookie new emperor Liu Rong and the politics of the Eastern Palace, and the Han-Xiongnu War in the North and the Hetao-Mayi War which broke out before the late emperor's body was cold!

In just four years, the Han Dynasty experienced changes in both internal and external affairs, military and political affairs, the emperor and his subjects, and the two palaces;
During this period, Liu Rong has been constantly making tricks...

After counting on their fingers, everyone was surprised to find that Liu She's overall level of performance during his four-year term as prime minister was actually among the best in the history of the Han Dynasty!
Two foreign wars in the same year, a handover of power, disputes between two generations of emperors and the Empress Dowager of the Eastern Palace, plus no less than five major internal changes, all occurred in the four years after Liu She became prime minister.

What do you think Liu She did in these matters?
It doesn't matter what Liu She did.

The important thing is: Liu She's existence made everyone not feel that these things had any impact on the court and outside, caused any unstable factors, or caused uncontrolled chaos.

——No one felt anything at all!

It is like a small farmyard that has been visited by ferocious beasts such as jackals, wolves, tigers and leopards over the years.

But from beginning to end, nothing happened to this farmyard;
The family living in the farmyard only knew that these wild beasts had come, but they never felt any fear or worry.

So, what is the rank of this farm's watchdog?
Can you say that this watchdog did nothing but lie in front of the doghouse with a chain on it, instead of jumping out of the wall to fight with jackals, tigers and leopards?
The same is true.

It is hard to tell what Liu She did and did not do during the four years he was prime minister;
But you only need to know: so many things happened in these four years, but the court in Chang'an remained orderly and was not affected at all.

This is enough.

This is the most direct manifestation of the three most valuable words "stabilize the country" in Emperor Taizu Liu Bang's evaluation of Xiao He.

Don't worry about how he got the town;

Don't even worry about whether he is in the town or not!

Because of his existence, nothing happened, that's enough...

"Peach Marquis..."

"Have you really made up your mind?"

After all, it wasn't the first time Liu She had clearly told me that he wanted to retire;

Although Liu Rong was reluctant, he did not refuse directly. Instead, he sincerely asked Liu She about his true thoughts.

——No one knows better than Liu Rong how easy it is to use Prime Minister Liu She.

You should know that the four years that Liu She served as prime minister was exactly the time when Crown Prince Liu Rong was regent and officially in power.

It can be said that Liu She served as prime minister for four years, and Liu Rong held power for four years - the monarch and the minister were each other's only partners.

Liu She never served as prime minister to other Han emperors;
Liu Rong never had any other prime ministers.

Liu Rong was certainly very satisfied with Prime Minister Liu She.

To some extent, Liu Rong even felt that Prime Minister Liu She might be easier to use than Xiao He, Cao Shen, or "famous prime ministers throughout the ages" like Wang Ling and Zhang Cang.

After all, the past four years have been Liu Rong's rookie period in the absolute sense.

Liu She was almost the most ideal prime minister for Liu Rong in his rookie period.

But Liu Rong also knew that even if Liu Rong came, it would still not change the 400-year life span of the Liu Han Dynasty.

No matter how good a prime minister is, it is impossible for him to be used by the Han Dynasty for more than three hundred years.

Always look forward.

Liu She is old and it is time for him to retire;
As the prime minister retired and the system of the three dukes and nine ministers was reformed, the Han Dynasty saw another large-scale bureaucratic iteration nine years later, covering most of the court...

(End of this chapter)