My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 446: Li's In-Law Relatives
This is different from before, when topics followed one after another and dramatic scenes followed one after another without any pause.

After Liu She submitted his petition and received Liu Rong's imperial edict of preferential treatment and reward, the court was silent for half an incense stick of time.

——On the imperial couch, Liu Rong narrowed his eyes slightly, clenched one hand into a fist and raised it to his mouth, obviously thinking.

At the foot of the imperial steps, all the ministers of the court sat opposite each other on the east and west sides, and without exception, they had their hands clasped in front of their stomachs, frowned, and lowered their heads.

Everyone is thinking.

What to think about?
This was obviously a series of chain reactions triggered by Liu She's succession of terms.

In fact, even if Liu She did not continue in office, given the background of the major reform of the court officials, today's court meeting would also be to discuss personnel arrangements.

Take the existing team structure of the court before and after the major reform of the officials.

Before the changes to the dukes and ministers, the situation was as follows.

The three highest officials in the group were Prime Minister Liu She, Imperial Censor Dou Ying, and the Grand Marshal, who was unoccupied.

The first level of the Nine Ministers: Han Anguo, the Internal History, Shi Fen, the Junior Official, and Zhao Yu, the Supreme Court.

The doctor-in-chief Zhou Ren, the chief of the imperial clan Liu Piqiang, and the imperial coachman Zhi Buyu;
Wei Wan, the Minister of Imperial Guards, Gongsun Kunxie, the Minister of Rites, were idle.

...

After the major reform of the nobles, excluding Liu She's resignation, the specific situation is as follows.

The three highest officials at the first level were Prime Minister Liu She, Imperial Censor Dou Ying, and the Grand Chancellor, who was vacant.

The first level of the Nine Ministers: the Minister of Agriculture was idle, the Chief of the Imperial Guards was idle, and the Chief of the Imperial Guards was idle;

Shi Fen, the Shaofu, Zhao Yu, the Dali, and Zhou Ren, the Langzhongling;
The Minister of the Imperial Clan Liu Pi was strong, the Minister of the Imperial Household was upright and trustworthy, and the Minister of Rites was idle.

Therefore, if Liu She did not mention the matter of begging for bones today, the court would still have many personnel arrangement issues to resolve.

The personnel appointment issues of the three highest officials, the Grand Chancellor;

Personnel appointment issues at the level of Nine Ministers, new positions such as Da Nong, Zhi Jinwu, Zhu Jiaduwei, and the old position of Taichang.

There is also the question of whether Han Anguo, the original internal historian, should stay in the original internal historian team and serve as the Minister of Agriculture, or be promoted to one of the Three Dukes and serve as the Grand Marshal of Works.

There are already many things to do and they are very complicated.

But Liu She's interference made the situation even more complicated.

First, the three dukes were one level higher - Liu She left office and Dou Ying took over as prime minister;

This was not only a consensus that had been prepared for both inside and outside the court, but also an arrangement made when the late emperor was still alive. It was also the basic element that Liu Rong came up with based on practical factors to coexist peacefully with the Dou family's in-laws.

Therefore, it was a foregone conclusion that Dou Ying would become the prime minister.

In this way, the three highest officials would have to consider the remaining two positions besides the prime minister: the chief censor and the grand chancellor.

If Liu She had not left office and Dou Ying was still the Imperial Censor, and only the Grand Marshal was vacant among the Three Dukes, then whether Han Anguo should be made the Minister of Agriculture or promoted to the Three Dukes would have needed to be considered.

But now that Liu She has left office, there are two vacancies for the three highest officials. There is no doubt about it for Han Anguo - he will be promoted to the third highest official.

The only suspense is whether Han Anguo will be the deputy prime minister, the imperial censor, or the third in line, the Grand Marshal.

According to the development path of the Han Dynasty's past 'Neishi-Grand Censor-Prime Minister', Han Anguo would most likely first become the Grand Marshal.

After all, he had only been in the court for a few years, and immediately became the head of the Nine Ministers.

To promote him across levels again - bypassing the Grand Chancellor, who was the third highest official among the Three Dukes, and directly becoming the Grand Censor, would neither convince the public nor conform to the normal rules of personal development for officials.

Therefore, there is basically no need to discuss Han Anguo's appointment as Grand Marshal.

Therefore, the topic that needed to be discussed changed from the original "who will be the Grand Marshal" to the current one: who will be the Chief Censor and form a new leadership team of the Three Dukes together with the new Prime Minister Dou Ying and the first Grand Marshal Han Anguo of the Han Dynasty.

This problem is very troublesome.

In the past, when the system of dukes and ministers had not yet been reformed, although the three dukes were called the "Three Dukes", in fact there were only two dukes: the prime minister and the chief censor.

The remaining Taiwei is not a permanent position;

Secondly, due to some unspeakable taboos, they are not able to participate in politics and therefore do not perform specific work functions in the court system.

Therefore, the previous official advancement path of Nei Shi-Yu Shi Fu-Prime Minister did not have any major problems.

——As the head of the Nine Ministers, the Nei Shi was known as the "Little Prime Minister of Guanzhong";
Being able to shoulder the burden of the Internal History is equivalent to having the ability - or at least the potential - to shoulder the burden of the Prime Minister's Office in the future.

As the head of the Nine Ministers, the Nei Shi would naturally be promoted to the Three Dukes.

The three highest officials in the hierarchy actually only have two officials, the Prime Minister and the Imperial Censor. It is impossible to be promoted directly from the Internal Censor to the Prime Minister.

Naturally, he could only promote the deputy prime minister to the rank of Imperial Censor first, and then plan to make him the official deputy prime minister.

This is the complete logical chain of the past, when important officials of the Han Dynasty started as Internal History, transitioned through the Imperial Censor, and finally became Vice Prime Minister and the Prime Minister of the Prime Minister's Office.

But now, the situation is very different.

——The Grand Marshal replaced the Grand Commandant and became one of the new Three Dukes of the Han Dynasty!
The Three Dukes of the Han Dynasty really had "Three Dukes" - there were really three positions!
Moreover, the order of priority is clear at a glance: the prime minister is the first, followed by the deputy prime minister and the chief censor, and the grand marshal is the last.

In this way, the Nei Shi, the head of the Nine Ministers, could naturally only be promoted to the Grand Chancellor, the smallest of the Three Dukes.

Han Anguo could only be promoted to Grand Marshal and could never be directly promoted to Imperial Censor for this reason.

Well, the problem is coming.

——The first prime minister and the third grand chancellor have been appointed;

What qualities do you need to possess in order to compete for the position of the second Imperial Censor?
The first thing that comes into play is the actual political status of the Grand Censor, the 'Second Prime Minister', which requires the candidate to have the ability and qualifications of a 'quasi-prime minister' or 'reserve prime minister'!
That is: only when all the ministers in the court and the emperor on the throne believe that you are capable and qualified to become the next prime minister after Dou Ying, will you have the opportunity to compete for the vacant position of Grand Censor.

Secondly, under the major reform, the old promotion path of Nei Shi - Grand Censor - Prime Minister no longer exists.

The internal historian is gone;

The reform of the ministers has just been finalized, and the head of the new Nine Ministers is still uncertain, but it certainly cannot be the Da Nong, Zhi Jinwu, or Shao Fu, Zhu Jue Duwei after they were split up.

This means that among the existing Nine Ministers, there is no one other than the former Internal History Han Anguo who is qualified to be promoted to the level of One of the Three Dukes.

If he couldn't be promoted from among the Nine Ministers, then he could only 'airdrop' - directly appoint someone from among the unemployed meritorious officials to be the Imperial Censor.

But it’s still the same question;
The Imperial Censor must be someone who can become the Prime Minister in the future.

How could a person who could be the prime minister sit at home idle?

What's more, the prime minister of the Han Dynasty still retains the political unwritten rule that "only the rank of marquis can be appointed as prime minister."

Even with the precedent of Shentu Jia, the scope of candidates for prime minister was merely expanded to Che Hou and Guannei Hou.

——There are less than 300 such people in the Han Dynasty now.

Among them, at least 200 were the second and third generations of meritorious officials who lived a life of idleness and waiting for death;
As for the remaining one hundred or so, the mediocre ones are engaged in construction in their fiefdoms, while the relatively better ones have already served as nine ministers in the court or held important positions in the military.

Those who can stay at home without work are either good-for-nothings or good-for-nothings. There are almost no exceptions.

This is very uncomfortable.

Find someone who has the title of Chehou or Guanneihou - at least he has to be a potential stock with the opportunity to be Guanneihou or Chehou in the future, and this person must also have the ability and qualifications to serve as the second prime minister and the imperial censor, as well as the potential to serve as the prime minister in the future;
Taking all these conditions into consideration, it really gives people a feeling of being in a poor position.

But the problem is: there is no suitable person to take up this position...

Okay, let’s put this issue aside for now.

Looking down at the level of Nine Ministers, it is also a mess.

——Han Anguo must be promoted to the position of the Three Dukes and Grand Chancellor, so a new person must be found for the position of Minister of Agriculture;

Moreover, this person must be a talent related to the agricultural field - at least he cannot be a layman who doesn't even know what agriculture is.

In addition to the Minister of Agriculture, another department split from the original Ministry of Internal Affairs: the Praetorian Guards, is also a difficult problem.

The easiest solution, of course, is to have the former lieutenant of the rank of two thousand stones directly promoted two levels, and to have his position and subordinate office rise to the top, to become a Nine Ministers and Praetorian Guards of the rank of two thousand stones.

But the problem is: before the big reform, the lieutenant position was vacant...

——When the late emperor first ascended the throne, Zhou Yafu was the lieutenant.

Later, when the Wu-Chu Rebellion broke out, Zhou Yafu was appointed Taiwei. After the rebellion was quelled, he was appointed Prime Minister. Soon after, he was politically hidden.

The late emperor had prepared for a rainy day and had trained a candidate for lieutenant, Cang Ying Zhidu, early on. He was also sent to Yanmen County by Liu Rong for training.

At first, he was the deputy of the prefect Cheng Buzhi: the county commander;
After the battle of Hetao-Mayi last year, Cheng Buzhi moved out of Hetao and became the governor of Shuofang County. Zhidu was also promoted to the top leader and became the governor of Yanmen.

He had only been a governor for a year, so it was somewhat inappropriate to directly call him back to serve as a Nine Ministers.

Moreover, Liu She did not want Zhidu to follow the original historical trajectory and enter the officialdom. Instead, he hoped that this "victorious general" could give full play to his military talents and follow the military development route.

After Zhidu, the late emperor also prepared a new lieutenant candidate for Liu Rong.

Wei Wan, Marquis of Jianling.

That year, after General Zhidu failed in his promotion to lieutenant, the late emperor appointed Wei Wan, who had made great contributions in suppressing the rebellion and was awarded the title of marquis for his military merits, as lieutenant.

As a result, the position of Weiwei was vacant later, and Liu Rong had no choice but to promote Wei Wanqiang to one of the Nine Ministers.

At present, Wei Wan is still the Weiwei;
Although the Weiwei was about to be kicked out of the administrative-oriented system of three dukes and nine ministers, after transferring to the military system, the Weiwei would still be at the level of two thousand stones.

Theoretically, Liu Rong could indeed transfer Wei Wan from the post of Weiwei to the post of Zhijinwu.

But this is nothing more than robbing Peter to pay Paul - since Wei Wan became the Prefect of the Guards, Liu Rong had to find a new lieutenant, the gap still existed, it was just a change of position.

What’s even more terrible is that the situation Liu Rong will eventually have to face is likely to be that both the positions of Praefectus Urbi and Patriarch of the Imperial Guards are vacant at the same time.

——For the position of the Second Prime Minister and the Imperial Censor, which was vacant at the level of one of the Three Dukes, the only candidate Liu Rong could think of who basically met the requirements was Wei Wan!

Wei Wan may not be completely suitable;
But he is definitely the most suitable candidate at the moment, and also the only one who does not seem obviously unsuitable at first glance.

Therefore, not only could Wei Wan not serve as the Prefect of the Guards, he could not even continue to serve as the Minister of Defense.

At this point, the three highest officials were basically resolved: Prime Minister Dou Ying, Imperial Censor Wei Wan, and Grand Chancellor Han Anguo;

But the gap in the Nine Ministers is getting bigger and bigger...

—The big farmer has to find someone;

——The Praetorian Guards must find someone;
——You have to look for someone too often.

The other nine ministers currently in office: Shaofu Shi Fen was originally a stopgap measure, and although it is possible to continue with the "stopgap" measure, it is somewhat inappropriate.

To be precise, Shi Fen, the Shaofu, had basically completed his mission after the Shaofu was successfully split up.

If he continues to serve as Shaofu, it will hinder the retreat of this huge organization that has been weakened.

In this case, the Shaofu had better find someone.

Dali (Tingwei) Zhao Yu is doing a good job and does not need to be replaced.

The Chief of the Imperial Clan Liu Piqiang had no choice but to say - even if he had to change, he would still have to find a respected elder from the family of King Chu Yuan.

But the Imperial Household had no doubts and was determined to change it no matter what.

This person is really too honest...

In the past few years, I don't know how many cunning people have taken advantage of the fact that Zhi Buyi, a good-natured man, is the Grand Coachman and tried to poach his talents!
Borrowing horses for free or setting up a horse rental business are all good things;

They would often injure or kill the horses they lent out, or even pretend to injure or kill them, but then refuse to compensate, forcing Zhi Buyi to report the "accident". There were endless bad incidents.

In the past few years, Zhi Buyi had complained more than once that he was not doing a good job as the Grand Coachman and had let down the trust of Emperor Taizong and the former Emperor Xiaojing.

So - the Taifu also has to be replaced.

What makes people feel a little better is that Zhi Buzhi just cannot be the Grand Coachman or the Junior Minister of the Imperial Household, positions that are easy to be poached.

Originally in the position of Weiwei, Zhi Buyi did a very good job!

In the future, letting Zhi Buyi return to the position of Weiwei or letting him serve as the Zhijinwu would be good choices.

As for the remaining Chief Duke and Imperial Physician Commander - for the former, Liu Rong had long decided to use his maternal relatives: Li. It seemed that the problem had been solved, but in fact, it was also a mess.

There is no problem in employing Li’s relatives.

Compared with Emperor Taizong and Emperor Xiaojing, Liu Rong's use of maternal relatives could even be considered very late.

But the problem is that among the Li family's in-laws, the only one who can be considered as a talent is Li Cang, the son of Li Ben, the head of the Li family.

So, Emperor Rong, will you use your uncle Li Ben or your cousin Li Cang?
——Liu Rong was unhappy about using his uncle Li Ben, and he couldn’t get things done.

Moreover, the newly established chief duke and commandery had to set a precedent for future generations in many aspects;
As one of the Nine Ministers, Li Ben would almost certainly use all his experience to make money for his family and fill the subordinate government offices with his own people.

But if Li Cang was used, Li Ben would definitely be unhappy, thinking that his father was outdone by his son, and even saying that Liu Rong "did not respect his mother's uncle";
If the situation is more serious, there may be unknown variables on the side of Empress Dowager Li of the Eastern Palace.

In the past few years, Empress Dowager Li stayed in the Eastern Palace in a well-behaved manner and did not cause any trouble for Liu Rong, so Liu Rong was naturally very happy.

But Liu Rong will never forget that horrible time in his life when he was dominated by his mother!
As a result, even the most stable Lord Duke and Commander encountered extremely difficult circumstances.

At this point, among the new nine ministers, four positions, namely, the Minister of Agriculture, the Minister of Rites, the Minister of the Imperial Household, and the Minister of the Imperial Household, all needed new appointments, and there were no suitable candidates.
The Lord Commandant was under suspicion among the Li family's maternal relatives.

The Chief of the Imperial Guards focused on Zhi Buyi, and the Dali and Zongzheng were not moved, and the Langzhongling Zhou Ren was also used as a makeshift.

But even so, this huge workload - especially the mental workload - caused all the ministers, nobles and officials in the court to burn brain cells at a rapid rate.

Liu Rong, who was sitting on the imperial couch, was naturally not spared...

(End of this chapter)