My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 447 Cutting the Trouble with a Quick Sword

"When Emperor Xiaojing was still alive, there was a will."

"——After Tao Hou resigned, Wei Qi Hou Dou Ying could be the prime minister."

"Now that Marquis Tao has retired, and Marquis Weiqi has been the deputy prime minister for many years, it is reasonable for both of them to be appointed prime minister."

The late emperor once said: When faced with a complex situation, we must first implement the parts that can be determined.

So, looking at the ball of wool in front of him that was tangled and could not be cut or sorted out, Liu Rong immediately decided to cut the Gordian knot.

——First decide on the position that can be decided!
We will focus on solving the remaining issues later.

As expected by Liu Rong, as soon as he said this, everyone cast sympathetic glances at Liu She.

It's like saying: Poor old Tao Hou~
I had barely submitted my petition when the emperor began appointing a new prime minister...

But Liu She's reaction was also not beyond Liu Rong's expectations.

"It is as your majesty said."

"Back then, when Marquis Tiao resigned as prime minister for some reason, the late Emperor Xiaojing and the Empress Dowager Donggong both intended to make Marquis Weiqi the prime minister."

"But in the end, the Empress Dowager thought again and again and decided to let Wei Qihou temper himself for a few years before discussing it again."

"So, Emperor Xiaojing had no choice but to appoint me as prime minister as a temporary solution;"

"But at that time, Wei Qihou succeeded me as prime minister, which was already decided by Emperor Xiaojing..."

Liu She's statement seemed to be an active response to Liu Rong's words, flattering Liu Rong, or giving Liu Rong and himself a way out.

But in fact, Liu Rong's seemingly casual statement was also an important and indispensable link in the process of "changing term" of the prime minister of the Han Dynasty.

——The prime minister of the Han Dynasty could designate a successor before leaving office!

Of course, this does not include the prime minister who was dismissed for "making mistakes".

For example: Before his death, Xiao He, the Marquis of Ying, recommended Cao Shen to take over his position;

When Cao Shen was dying, he used the excuse that "Emperor Taizu Gao had already made arrangements" to appoint Wang Ling and Chen Ping as the left and right prime ministers respectively.

Wang Ling was demoted by Empress Dowager Lu, so he was naturally not qualified and had no intention of appointing a successor.
However, before his death, Chen Ping designated Zhou Bo and Guan Ying as his two successors after his death.

After all, they are all members of the "Killing Lu Meritorious Officials" party, so it can be considered as helping two old friends.

But I never thought that Emperor Taizong, who looked harmless, was actually a crueler person than Hou Guifen!
At the beginning of his reign, Emperor Taizong returned the favor by appointing Chen Ping and Zhou Bo, two of the heroes who had killed Lü, as his left and right prime ministers respectively.
A month later, Zhou Bo was persuaded by others that doing so would damage his relationship with Chen Ping, so he resigned and made Chen Ping the sole prime minister.

Just one year later, Chen Ping passed away and designated Zhou Bo as his successor.

As a result, Zhou Bo "entered the palace for the second time" and sat on the position of prime minister for only ten months before Emperor Taizong said, "The prime minister is the head of all officials and should be the first in the world." He set an example for the meritorious officials who stayed in Chang'an and were unwilling to serve their country, and returned to his fiefdom to farm!

Then Guan Ying became prime minister, and died of old age two years later.

In just four years, Emperor Taizong Xiaowen, who succeeded to the throne, completed the "harvest" of Chen Ping, Zhou Bo, and Guan Ying, the three core members of the group of heroes who killed Lü.

Although two of them died of old age...

Then, before his death, Guan Ying designated Zhang Cang, Marquis of Beiping, as the next Prime Minister of the Han Dynasty after his death.

However, it is somewhat intriguing whether Guan Ying designated Zhang Cang because of his own wish or because he was following Emperor Taizong's wishes for the sake of his family.

Later on - Zhang Cang was violently dismissed from his post and lost the right to recommend a successor;

Emperor Taizong personally selected Shentu Jia, Marquis of Gu'an.

Before Shentu Jia left office, he designated Zhou Yafu as the Marquis.

Then Zhou Yafu "resigned" from the position of prime minister and "voluntarily" gave up the right to recommend a successor.

Then, the late emperor appointed Tao Hou Liu She...

From the above series - every "change of term" of the prime ministers of the Han Dynasty since Xiao He, Marquis of Ying, it is not difficult to find that the Han emperor basically followed the recommendation of the successor of the previous prime minister.

At least on the surface, every time there was a change of power, the old prime minister would designate someone, and the emperor would readily appoint that person as the new prime minister.

This actually led to the formation of another unwritten political rule in the Han political arena.

That is: unless the previous prime minister was dismissed due to a ‘fault’;

Otherwise, the new prime minister must be recommended by the previous prime minister - or at least recognized - in order to truly possess the political prestige that comes with being a prime minister.

This is similar to the later generations, when the old leader, before being transferred, pulls the new leader to tell all the subordinates: After I leave, the new comrade so-and-so will be in charge of everyone's work;
Everyone should support Comrade XXX's future work just as you support me...

With these words, the new leader will most likely not be excluded.

On the contrary, without the old leader’s words, the new leader would have to spend quite some time getting used to the working relationship with his subordinates after taking office.

The same principle applies - a new prime minister who is recognized or even designated by the old prime minister is unlikely to be rejected by people inside and outside the court.

On the contrary, there will be more or less rejection.

For example, Shentu Jia, who was not designated and recognized by Zhang Cang, the Marquis of Beiping, was criticized as "one generation is worse than the previous one."

Even though this was not Shentu Jia's fault, but Zhang Cang lost the right to recommend a successor because of his own reasons, Shentu Jia still could not avoid being excluded for a period of time.

Another example is Liu She.

If Liu She had taken over the old Prime Minister Shentu Jia's class instead of Zhou Yafu's, and had been recommended by Shentu Jia;
Even - even if he had been appointed by Zhou Yafu, Liu She's initial work as prime minister would not have been so difficult.

Therefore, Liu She's statement just now seemed ordinary and insignificant;
But in fact, it was during this court meeting, in a formal political occasion, that he, as the former prime minister, recognized Dou Ying, who was about to become the new prime minister.

In this way, when Dou Ying takes office as the Prime Minister, people inside and outside the court - at least those who are happy to work with Liu She - will no longer reject Dou Ying.

To a certain extent, Liu She's recognition even supplemented some of the legitimacy of Dou Ying, the new prime minister!
At least under the current political background of the Han Dynasty, this is generally the view both inside and outside the court.

Liu Rong cut the Gordian knot quickly, and Liu She also expressed his position without any ambiguity. The position of prime minister was thus decided.

All that remained was to petition the Eastern Palace, consult divination, and perform formal worship rituals.

It's basically just a formality.

——Old Empress Dowager Dou of the Eastern Palace, could she possibly oppose Dou Ying becoming prime minister?
Could it be that the Taichang official who was in charge of fortune-telling dared to predict the hexagram that 'God will not allow Dou Ying to be the prime minister'?

Obviously neither is possible.

For five thousand years in Chinese history, at least in the Han Dynasty, it was the gods who served the emperor, not the emperors who served the gods.
Even gods had to be conferred by the Han emperor before they could truly become 'gods'...

"If Wei Qihou becomes prime minister, the vacancy of the Grand Censor will be vacant."

"The new post of Grand Marshal was also created, but it is also vacant."

"——I intend that the former Internal History Han Anguo be promoted to the position of Grand Marshal."

"In addition, Wei Wan, the Marquis of Jianling, was promoted to the position of Imperial Censor." "What do you think?"

Again.

Indecisiveness leads to disaster.

The great reorganization of the dukes and ministers, coupled with the departure of Liu She, had thrown the system of the three dukes and nine ministers into disarray;
There was no other qualified candidate for the positions of Grand Censor and Grand Chancellor of Works except Wei Wan and Han Anguo.

Since there is only one choice, instead of worrying about it, you might as well just decide on it.

Everyone was obviously dissatisfied with Wei Wan's promotion to Imperial Censor.

——Wei Wan?
——Why!
He was a Langzhongling (a small official who was inferior to a 2,000-stone official) who was promoted to a higher rank and became a lieutenant of a 2,000-stone official because of his contribution in suppressing the Wu-Chu rebellion and was awarded a title of nobility for his military merits.

From being a lieutenant of the rank of two thousand stones to being promoted to the rank of Weiwei of the rank of middle two thousand stones, he had already skipped the rank of true two thousand stones - he was promoted two levels in a row!

It has only been a few years, and he is going to be promoted from an unremarkable position among the Nine Ministers: the Weiwei, to the second position among the Three Dukes: the Second Prime Minister and the Imperial Censor?
Is there any reason?
Are there any laws?
Liu Rong did not deny the opinions put forward by the ministers and officials.

But there was no direct answer.

Instead, he simply threw back a sentence: Then let me ask you;

Apart from Wei Wan, who else could be the Imperial Censor?

Now, everyone calmed down.

On the contrary, almost no one had any objection to Han Anguo's appointment as Grand Marshal.

——Han Anguo came to the court from Liang State because the Imperial Censor was absent;

If it weren't for the sudden appearance of Weiqi Hou Dou Ying, and the fact that "entering the court directly as the deputy prime minister" was somewhat inappropriate, Han Anguo should have been the Imperial Censor!

Now, after several years of training as the Internal History Officer, Han Anguo has fully proved himself.

If there had not been an additional Grand Chancellor among the Three Dukes, Han Anguo would have been directly appointed as the Chief Censor, and no one would have been able to escape the mistake.

——At least Han Anguo is the Imperial Censor, so his opposition will be much smaller than Wei Wan’s.

Thus, the three highest officials were officially determined: Dou Ying, Wei Wan, and Han Anguo!
It was not until the three of them were sure that everyone discovered a problem.

What the hell...

How come you are so Confucian...

Prime Minister Dou Ying was a great scholar of his time and a prominent relative of the Dou family.

Imperial Censor Wei Wan - appreciated by Emperor Taizong for his horse-driving skills, a former imperial official, he successively served as General of the Imperial Guards, Lieutenant, and Imperial Guards;
His resume seems to be biased towards the military, but in fact, in terms of academics, he hates the Legalists and the Diplomats!

In Wei Wan's own words: As a minister, one should be dutiful and honest, not think about anything messy, and do whatever the king says.

Instead of being like the cruel officials of the Legalists and the lobbyists of the Diplomacy School, who chatter all day long and give random advice!

In this way, Wei Wan's academic composition - at least his academic inclination - becomes clear at a glance.

I hate the Legalists and the Diplomats;

They advocated "ruler-ruler, minister-minister, father-father, son-son", and attached great importance to hierarchy.

Isn't this still the Confucian way...

You are such a good man, Wei Wan. You come from a military background, but you are actually a Confucian general...

Only the Grand Marshal Han Anguo was slightly better - in his early years he followed Tian Sheng of Zou County, studied "Han Feizi" and miscellaneous schools of thought, and his style of doing things had some shadows of the diplomats.

It is obvious that two of the three highest officials in the future: the Imperial Censor Wei Wan and the Grand Chancellor Han Anguo, will not be able to pee in the same pot.

But Han Anguo's shortcomings are also very obvious.

——In terms of foreign strategy, Han Anguo firmly advocated marriage and "anti-war".

In Han Anguo's view, war - especially war with the Huns, is undoubtedly a losing business.

If they lost the battle, there would be nothing to say. Even if they won, there was nothing they could do about the Huns who were fleeing on horseback.

The Han Dynasty could not use the Xiongnu's land, let alone effectively control and garrison it.
The Huns had no resources to make up for the Han Dynasty's war consumption.

Therefore, in Han Anguo's view, rather than risking a year's poor harvest and fighting a mutually destructive war with the Huns, it would be better to give up part of the grain harvest in exchange for an external environment in which people can live and work in peace and stability.

To put it bluntly, war is not as profitable as marriage.

In the original history, Han Anguo once served as the Vice Prime Minister and Imperial Censor during the reign of Emperor Wu.

After the death of Prime Minister Tian Fen, he served as the "acting prime minister" for a period of time and almost got his hands on the position of prime minister!

Unfortunately, things did not go as planned. Han Anguo accidentally sprained his ankle while driving for Emperor Wu, and missed the opportunity because of his "suspected limpness".

Later, Emperor Wu also gave Han Anguo an opportunity: to make achievements in the army and thus become the prime minister!

As a result, Han Anguo repeatedly made "anti-war" moves - he would withdraw troops secretly, avoid fighting secretly, and even negotiate peace with the Xiongnu in private;
Gradually, Han Anguo was increasingly marginalized, his garrison area became increasingly remote, and his subordinates suffered increasing casualties.

Within a few months, Han Anguo became depressed and died of vomiting blood.

Such a person, for Liu Rong and the Han Dynasty in this timeline~
Uh, how should I put it...

Ok.

Han Anguo is a very good civil servant.

Putting aside the fact that he is a tough guy with a not very correct outlook on life and does not conform to the local customs, Han Anguo is still very good in terms of business ability.

Especially now, the Han family is short of people - especially high-ranking civil officials;

Therefore, Liu Rong had to use Han Anguo, and he had to use him for quite a period of time.

It's okay to use it, but it's unlikely to get promoted.

——Even if Emperor Wu of Han was replaced by Liu Rong in this timeline, the historical mission of the Han family at this stage and the top priority of Emperor Liu Rong's career are still the five words "enhance the military power of the Han Dynasty"!
During this historical period, Liu Rong would not allow the Han Dynasty or the Chinese civilization to produce a prime minister who avoided war, was afraid of war, believed that marriage was more cost-effective and that war was not worthwhile.

Even Ya Xiang can’t do it!
As for the academic attributes of the new three-public leadership team, Liu Rong has also considered it.

——A prime minister who is a Confucian and a relative of the emperor, a royal censor who is a military man and tends towards Confucianism, and a great minister who studies Han Feizi and eclecticism and is definitely not on the same page with these two.

In a sense, this is also a kind of balance.

The Imperial Censor Wei Wan and the Grand Chancellor Han Anguo were at loggerheads with each other. Dou Ying wanted to take sides, but due to his status as a foreign relative and the natural antagonistic relationship between himself and Wei Wan, as "prime minister versus second prime minister," he could only stand neutral and watch the show.

At least in Liu Rong's opinion, the balance between these three people is relatively stable.

(End of this chapter)