The Great Tang General

After Li Xuan informed the civil and military ministers that an era of reform was about to begin, he did not mention any other specific matters.

Today is his coronation ceremony. Tomorrow he will officially hold court and appoint a new prime minister, and then he will begin to propose court policies.

"Now that I have ascended the throne, the whole world should celebrate. For more than ten years, I have worked together with my adoptive father, just like a real father. Unfortunately, my adoptive father is old and unable to handle the practical affairs of the court. I will pass the throne to him, so I will worship him as the Holy Wen Shen Wu Emperor. I hope you will respect him as always."

Li Xuan began to tell the ministers about the arrangements for Li Longji.

The Supreme Emperor, but with the title "Shengwen Shenwu" added in front of it.

Shengwen Shenwu were the two greatest titles among the many titles Li Longji had when he was emperor.

Li Xuan put these two titles before the Supreme Emperor, which was a sign of filial piety.

"Your subjects pay their respects to the Emperor."

All civil and military officials stood up and saluted Li Longji.

Although they were not clear about the purpose of Li Xuan's title, the civil and military officials were not allowed to interfere in the matter of establishing the Supreme Emperor.

"Everyone is safe."

Li Longji found it difficult to describe his mood at this time with words like joy or sorrow.

Li Xuan, this unfilial traitor, eventually made him the emperor.

But he knew that this might be the last time that civil and military officials would pay him respect.

From today onwards, he will return to Xingqing Palace and will find it difficult to take a single step out.

He will never be able to enjoy the hot springs in Huaqing Palace or the chirping cicadas in Daming Palace.

Looking at the attitudes of the court and the public, Li Longji had to admit that his era was over and there was no chance of him turning the tables.

Wanting to assassinate Li Xuan was even more wishful thinking.

Even if Li Xuan, who had already stolen the throne, died suddenly, all the civil and military officials would support Li Xuan's son to succeed to the throne.

"My biological father, the King of Song, raised me and taught me how to study literature and martial arts. His kindness to me is as heavy as the Zhongnan Mountains and as deep as the vast ocean. Years have passed, and time has passed. I have always thought about upholding filial piety. The character of the King of Song is like frost and snow, deep and steep, and everyone in the court and the country knows it. Now I have increased my throne and named the King of Song as the Supreme Emperor of Kindness, Benevolence and Filial Piety. I hope you will treat him as I do."

Compared to when he conferred titles on Li Longji and Li Shizhi, Li Xuan's words were very emotional, which showed his true filial piety.

The title of "Ci De Ren Xiao" is suitable for Li Shizhi.

When these words were spoken, all the court officials were shocked.

I didn't expect that His Majesty would confer the title of Emperor Emeritus twice.

But the title of Emperor Retired is only given to Your Majesty to show his filial piety to heaven and earth, and it does not have any power.

Li Shizhi was once a prime minister and raised Li Xuan with great difficulty.

Li Xuan also relied on Li Shizhi's influence to enter the officialdom and was directly promoted to a fifth-rank general.

When Li Xuan's military achievements became increasingly important, Li Shizhi resigned from the position of prime minister at a young age to make way for his son.

Now that Li Xuan has ascended the throne and become emperor, it would be inappropriate not to raise Li Shizhi's status.

"Greetings to the Supreme Emperor!"

After Li Xian took the lead in bowing to Li Shizhi, the civil and military officials went to pay their respects to Li Shizhi.

The Emperor of Compassion, Virtue, Benevolence and Filial Piety.

The officials gradually accepted this fact.

From then on, the father-son relationship between Li Xuan and Li Shizhi was definitely the first-class "kind father and filial son" in history.

"Be flat!"

Only when Li Shizhi asked the civil and military officials to level the ladder did Li Longji react.

What virtue and ability does Li Shizhi have to dare to be on equal footing with him?

Li Xuan is really good at making trouble. Is it so difficult to wait for him to ascend to heaven?
Although the emperor now had no power at all, it was still awkward to share it with others, especially with Li Shizhi.

Love desires its life, evil desires its death.

Now Li Shizhi is one of the people Li Longji hates the most, so much so that everything Li Shizhi did before seems extremely hypocritical in his eyes.

Now Li Longji just wanted to quickly end the coronation ceremony and return to his own little piece of land, away from the father and son who had caused him to collapse.

His wish was soon satisfied by Li Xuan. After Li Xuan encouraged his ministers, the coronation ceremony ended for the time being.

Although the ceremony was not luxurious, it was extremely grand.

One day, when the country is prosperous and the people are strong, he will hold a real grand ceremony and invite kings and chiefs from hundreds of countries in the world to the most magnificent building in the world, the Vientiane Temple.

In Li Xuan's eyes, the current Tang Dynasty is just a powerful country with strong soldiers and horses, and it is feared by all nations, but it is not prosperous.

The news of Li Xuan's ascension to the throne will spread to all counties and prefectures in the world at the fastest speed.

Now the generals heading south are in place and are recruiting soldiers.

He can set up the remaining nine governorates at any time.

He knew that Jiangnan, Shannan, Lingnan and other provinces would wait and see because of his declaration of emperorship.

At this point, it is impossible for the Guanzhong area, centered on Chang'an, to be in turmoil because of Li Xuan's enthronement.

The Henan area, centered on Luoyang, was swept by troops led by Li Xuan, so there was no possibility of unrest.

What's more, Henan and Hebei had been exempted from taxes for two years by Li Xuan.

The counties and prefectures in the border areas, especially Longyou and Hexi, were Li Xuan's base.

Anxi and Beiting existed in the form of protectorates, and were mainly Hu people's countries and tribes.

They admire the strong, and General Tian has become a legend.

After Li Xuan ascended the throne, all they had to do was issue an edict of appeasement, and they would send envoys to present precious treasures to Li Xuan.

The fact that local officials in Jiangnan and Lingnan are waiting and watching the court is actually a good thing for Li Xuan. As long as they do not cause unrest, they will give Li Xuan enough time.

On the second day after Li Xuan became emperor, he posthumously conferred the title of Empress Dowager Xiaomu on his biological mother.

Li Shizhi's second wife, Wang, was named empress dowager.

He also drafted an imperial edict to appoint Pei Lingxi as empress and his eldest son Li Yi as crown prince.

The ceremony was held on February 15th, during which civil and military officials paid their respects to the Empress and the Crown Prince.

On February 16th, Li Xuan named Jiang Yueyao as the Imperial Concubine, Changli as the Beautiful Concubine, and Shuang'er as the Hua Concubine.

The second son Li Song was named Prince of Yan, and the eldest daughter Li Zhenzhen was named Princess Yongle.

At the same time, he issued an edict to confer titles of princess on his sisters. Princesses were given titles based on the state, and Li Yuying was named Princess Cai.

Crowned his brother as king.

Li Qian was the Prince of Xu, Li Qi was the Prince of Tong, Li Jiqing was the Prince of Shen, and Li Lang was the Prince of Yong...

Li Xuan's titles were all nominal, with no fiefdom, but only land, clothing, and salary.

He set an example by not giving his own children any fiefdom.

Boundaries are broken step by step.

Since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, there has been a regulation that the fief of a Tang princess should not exceed 350 households, but Wu Zetian made an exception for the first time and granted Princess Taiping a fief of more than 350 households.

Li Longji's daughter, Princess Taihua, was granted a fief of a thousand households.

Li Xuan has stopped these fiefs.

Even so, he thought that the bloated royal family, with its clothing, salaries, and land properties, was a bit too much.

Li Xuan did not want to confer titles on the children of Li Shizhi's brothers because Li Xuan had never met them.

This kind of unreasonable waste of national resources reminded Li Xuan of the "Zhu Family's World" in the Ming Dynasty and the "Eight Banners" in the Qing Dynasty.

But in this era, there are moral issues. If he does not confer the title, it would seem that Li Xuan is heartless.

Therefore, Li Xuan asked Li Qian, the Minister of the Imperial Clan, to find county marquises, county sons, and county men to assign them positions.

The Enfeoffment Order could strip them of their titles if it was pushed twice.

It is also necessary to posthumously confer titles on Crown Prince Li Chengqian and Li Xiang.

Because Li Xuan wanted to connect his lineage to Emperor Taizong Li Shimin.

But what troubled Li Xuan was that Li Chengqian's behavior and the behavior of the smaller clan replacing the larger clan made Li Xuan hesitate on how to posthumously honor Li Chengqian.

He also consulted with the prime ministers in private.

Posthumous titles are divided into good posthumous titles, neutral posthumous titles, and bad posthumous titles.

A good posthumous title for Li Chengqian would certainly be criticized, while a bad posthumous title would make it seem that Li Xuan was disrespectful to his ancestors.

In the end, Li Xuan posthumously named Li Chengqian as Emperor Si, with the temple name: Huaizong.

Pure morality is called thinking, reflection on the people is called thinking, thinking inside and outside is called thinking, and regret for past mistakes is called thinking.

The posthumous title "Si" means feeling sorry for his misfortune and being angry at his lack of fighting spirit.

To uphold justice and promote good is called "huai"; to be kind and benevolent but die young is called "huai"; to be kind and benevolent but know how to be loyal is called "huai"; to die after losing one's position is called "huai"; to be kind and benevolent and act wisely is called "huai"; and when the people think of one's kindness is called "huai".

Emperor Huaizong of Tang, there is also some sympathy in it.

It would be a little easier to posthumously confer the title of Li Xiang on Li Xuan.

His posthumous title was Emperor Kang, and his temple name was Emperor Xiaozong.

Emperor Xiaozong of Tang.

Of course, there are still differences between people who have never been emperors and emperors.

At most, they are arranged in order in the ancestral temple.

And Li Xuan was still the nominal eighth emperor of the Tang Dynasty.

After all the titles were conferred, Li Xuan was appointed prime minister at the court meeting on February 20th.

There is only Li Xian as prime minister now, which is definitely not going to work.

Li Xuan promoted Pei Zunqing to be Shangshu Zuo Pushe.

He was the second prime minister.

Liu Yan, the Secretary of the Central Secretariat, was promoted to the Minister of Personnel and Co-Prime Minister.

He was the third prime minister.

Lu Huan, the prefect of Jingzhao, was promoted to be the chief of the Secretariat and the Minister of the Central Secretariat, and to be the Vice-President of the Central Secretariat.

He was the fourth prime minister.

Yang Wan, the Minister of the Imperial Household, was promoted to the position of Shizhong and Canzhi.

He is the fifth prime minister.

In addition, Li Xuan promoted Zhang Xun to be the prefect of Jingzhao, and used the strong Zhang Xun to govern Guanzhong.

Five prime ministers, covering all aspects.

There are Li Xuan’s trusted aides, Yang Wan and Liu Yan.

Especially Yang Wan, who started as a commoner and became the prime minister step by step over more than ten years.

He is only forty years old now and is the youngest and strongest among the prime ministers.

It can be seen from the governance of the border counties that Yang Wan is adept at government affairs.

At the same time, Yang Wan had unique insights into etiquette and imperial examinations, and was skilled in identifying and examining people.

Li Xian represented the royal family and was a prestigious minister who was a pioneer in reform.

Pei Zunqing is an old minister in the court with rich experience and the ability to make important decisions.

He was forcibly picked out from among the upright ministers by Li Xuan.

Lu Huan was more strange. He was not very close to Li Xuan, but he just did his job conscientiously and followed the court's orders.

No one thought that Lu Huan would become prime minister.

Even Lu Huan himself could not understand why Lu Huan, who had been in poor health, suddenly became energetic the moment he became prime minister.

Both father and son were prime ministers and had a good reputation, which can be regarded as a story that will be passed down through the ages.

There were many reasons why Li Xuan appointed Lu Huan as prime minister.

The most important thing is that Lu Huan is honest, which is in line with Li Xuan's advocacy of frugality and prohibition of extravagance.

Although Li Xian, Pei Zunqing, Liu Yan and Yang Wan were also honest officials, they were not as harsh on themselves as Lu Huan. Basically, like his father, they gave all their salaries to their relatives and friends and lived frugally.

In addition, there were some court officials like Lu Huan who were resentful of Li Xuan.

Li Xuan was able to use Lu Huan to prove to the court officials that anyone could become prime minister as long as they had enough ability.

The system of five prime ministers.

Li Xuan balanced the power of the prime ministers by letting them take turns to serve in the government hall and handle government affairs.

All government affairs are no longer handled directly by one prime minister.

It prevents the prime minister from becoming monopolistic and reduces the pressure on him.

In Li Xuan's heart, there is a red line, whoever disobeys it will be beaten!

The Secretariat was also formally reformed and became Li Xuan's private eunuch agency.

In the past, the Secretary General could do everything that the eunuchs in the Ministry of Internal Affairs could do. And the Secretary General could also do things that the eunuchs could not do.

Even the Zhongshu Sheren were all under the Secretary General. The current Secretary General was Wang Wei, and the Junior Secretary was Jia Zhi.

The current Secretary General has been promoted to the third rank by Li Xuan.

Among them were young officials such as Chang Gun, Li Mian, Yang Yan, Yan Wu, and Yan Jiming.

In the future, someone from the Secretary General will be appointed as Prime Minister.

In addition, there is a supervisory agency within the Secretariat, which will be ordered to tour local areas and whose responsibilities are greater than those of the Censor-in-Chief.

From then on, every time there were successful Jinshi, a few would be selected to serve as secretaries.

He is equivalent to the emperor's confidential secretary and will definitely be promoted first in the future.

As for the Ministry of Internal Affairs, it was temporarily in charge of the eunuchs and was a nominal position without any real power.

The positions in the Imperial Palace, such as the Imperial Food Bureau, the Imperial Pharmacy Bureau, the Imperial Clothing Bureau, the Imperial Residence Bureau, the Imperial Vehicle Bureau, and the Imperial Chariot Bureau, will still be treated as the fifth rank, but will be slightly restructured.

The Secretariat, the Tiance Palace, and the Embroidered Uniform Guard are the only institutions that can currently bypass the Council of State Affairs and are not subject to any jurisdiction.

Its chief officials were appointed directly by the emperor and were not recommended by the prime minister.

Even if a crime was to be convicted, the emperor would first review it, then it would be handed over to the Ministry of Justice for trial, and then to the Dali Temple for review.

March 1st.

Li Xuan, as the emperor and general of Tiance, announced the reform of Tiance Palace.

The former officials of Tian Ce Mansion have now all reached the highest positions in the country.

Now the Tian Ce Mansion has set up a central military academy, with the emperor serving as the principal. He has also appointed the Minister of War Feng Changqing to serve as the chief academic officer. In accordance with Li Xuan's policies, military training arrangements and ideological education are carried out.

Those who passed the annual military examination did not have to go through the selection process of the Ministry of War and could directly enter the Central Military Academy to study for three years before being appointed as low-level generals in various military governorates.

At the same time, the military examination not only admitted military scholars, but also admitted additional military candidates to increase the number of places in the Central Military Academy.

In addition, deputy governors, chief generals, deputy generals, lieutenant generals, and yamen generals of the local governor's offices would also enter the Central Military Academy for short-term training on a regional basis.

So the Central Military Academy is a very large institution.

But Li Xuan would not start large-scale construction again.

He would choose a palace, renovate it, and use it as the headquarters of the Central Military Academy.

The teachers of the Central Military Academy are also selected from veteran military officers.

Li Xuan would often teach at the Central Military Academy.

In Tiance Palace, the Central Military Academy is just an institution.

In addition, the Tiance Mansion is in charge of all the imperial guards, including the Tiance Guards, Yulin Army, Longwu Army, Feilong Imperial Guards, and the Royal Stables. These are the emperor's direct troops.

After the campaign to eliminate low status and promote virtue is completed, the number of imperial guards will be increased and the Shen Ce Army will be dispatched to Chang'an.

The Tian Ce Palace also had the Privy Council, which provided military advice and mobilized troops across the country.

The Privy Council is divided into ten departments, each responsible for its own affairs.

Any expedition by the Governor-General's Office must be under the military order of the Privy Council.

The Privy Council communicates closely with the military academy, and all kinds of training methods and garrison deployments will be transmitted to the entire army by the Tiance Privy Council as soon as possible.

The governor must execute it.

A baggage department is set up to manage logistics.

The Quartermaster Bureau consisted of eight departments, which were responsible for the military deployment and construction of various military governorates, statistics and review of the military expenditures of various military governorates, such as money, food, clothing, weapons, etc., responsible for organizing farmers and militia in wars, coordinating with local governments and the Ministry of Revenue on financial and military matters, bringing new recruits into the military governorates, etc., in addition, it was responsible for statistics of the military settlements and camp fields of various military governorates.

A weapons department was set up to manage weapons and armor.

The Armory was divided into eight departments, which were responsible for building siege equipment, bows and crossbows, chariots and armor, etc., and were audited by the various military governors' offices and allocated to the various armies.

Any piece of armor or weapon will be strictly based on the real-name construction system.

Soldiers used must also register their names, and those who lose them without reason will be severely punished.

The Yafanyuan was divided into four rooms. It was responsible for maintaining close contact between the Tang army and the various Hu tribes, counting the troops of the various Hu tribes, and determining the specific number that could be mobilized in war.

To ensure the Han-Fan system with the Tang Dynasty as the main body.

The Supervisory Office is divided into four rooms, which is different from the Censorate. As a purely military institution, the Supervisory Office is responsible for supervising military discipline and ensuring that the Governor's Office will not disobey the orders of the Tiance Mansion.

The restructuring of Tian Ce Mansion relieved the pressure of the Ministry of War.

It also gave General Tian Ce full control of the military.

Taking advantage of Li Xuan's supreme authority, he greatly weakened the power of the Governor's Office.

At the same time, Tiance Mansion also became an institution for the promotion of governors from all over the country.

The governor can be promoted not only to the Minister or Vice Minister of the Ministry of War, but also to the official of the Five Academy, or the chief academic officer of the Military Academy.

Once military ranks are established, their ranks will definitely be higher than those of the governor.

At present, Li Xuan just lets Zhang Xing take charge and build the framework of Tiance Mansion bit by bit.

Three years later, he was promoted to governor and reached the central government.

With the reforms of the Tian Ce Palace and the Secretariat, the ministers only realized that the emperor was strengthening his power.

There is also the separation of military and political power.

From now on, the Censorate will not be qualified to interfere in military affairs.

Li Xuan did not make any major changes, but just laid the foundation in the system and then filled it in two or three years later.

If you don't have enough prestige, you definitely can't make this change.

This harms the interests of many people.

However, the civil officials and military generals were unable to refute the Tiance Palace established by Li Xuan.

An Lushan's rebellion had just occurred. The governor's office must be strengthened.

This kind of restriction meant that border generals had no power to call up troops and no financial power.

But if they are loyal, they will be able to conduct conquests more smoothly than before.

After ascending the throne, Li Xuan promulgated the new Changping Law on March 15th.

At the beginning of the year, the matters discussed included not only the Changping Granary and Changping Salt Warehouse, but also the construction of Changping Department Store within ten years.

The first five-year plan of the Salesian Church has been released.

Now most counties have Salesian churches, it just depends on how the county governor views it.

The Salesian Church is now treated more strictly and is considered as a political achievement for the evaluation of officials.

Within five years, every county must have a Salesian church.

Moreover, the charity granary is connected to the Mercy Church, and food can be directly taken from the charity granary to help the Mercy Church.

An Lushan's rebellion occurred, but there was one thing to be thankful for.

When Li Xuan was appointed prime minister, he donated 2,000 kilograms of gold, and the Jishengtang he established had been in operation for nearly ten years.

According to the plan, the great doctors Chen Zangqi and Wang Bing were in charge, and many imperial doctors were dispatched from the palace.

Hundreds of students were enrolled every year, and for the first time, female doctors were admitted.

Students of this era studied medicine very seriously, and many of them became successful.

Among these doctors, there are military doctors and gynecologists.

After completing military medical studies, a Jishengtang identity card will be issued and the military governor's office will be assigned to each military governor's office with extremely favorable treatment.

The rest of the doctors began to arrive at the county government, set up Jishengtang in the county, and train doctors in the county.

Li Xuan demanded that the prefectural government must allocate more money and grain to the Jishengtang in the county.

If it is insufficient, the court will subsidize it.

Next, hundreds of doctors graduated from Jishengtang in Chang'an every year.

The Jishengtang in the county government needs at least a dozen doctors as teachers, because they are just starting out and need to learn from each other.

If there are outstanding students among their training, they will be sent to Chang'an for further training.

The doctors trained by the County Jishengtang would often open clinics in various counties and villages.

The serious problem facing the medical community in the Tang Dynasty today is still the excessively high infant mortality rate.

Li Xuan needed the doctors trained in Jishengtang to go to the countryside in person to teach by example.

After the new Changping Law was announced, civil and military officials thought that Li Xuan would promulgate the Kaocheng Law and the Yitiaobian Law. The prime ministers discussed this matter privately and how to improve it.

But Li Xuan didn't say a word.

He was now more concerned about rectifying the administration, the restoration of Hebei and Henan, the Salesian Hall, the Jisheng Hall, and road construction.

The princes and ministers once thought that Li Xuan would choose to recuperate for a period of time.

The powerful families breathed a sigh of relief, as they did not want Li Xuan to break the previous order.

Before, when Li Xuan was General Tiance and King of Qin, the powerful people in the south of the Yangtze River even built forts to defend themselves.

After all, Li Xuan is famous for his cruelty.

No powerful family wants to give up its century-old foundation.

Fortunately, Li Xuan was obedient and seemed to be just like when Li Longji was in power. He didn't care much about the low tax revenue in Jiangnan and Lingnan.

However, some powerful people also sensed the crisis.

Because Li Xuan cancelled the county troops.

As we all know, powerful families are most likely to breed among the county soldiers.

In every county and prefecture in the country, the commanders of the county troops are all descendants of powerful and wealthy families.

The disbanding of the county troops dealt a huge blow to the powerful families.

But Li Xuan ordered an army of 100,000 to march south in the name of suppressing bandits.

How dare the prefect disobey orders?

Now the powerful families can only control some county soldiers.

Compared with county soldiers, there are only one or two hundred county soldiers in a county, and they are good at arresting thieves.

The powerful people who sense the crisis will inevitably contact their followers and work together to fight against the possible tyranny.

Li Xuan's hesitation in taking action is a sign of making adequate preparations.

On April 10, Li Xuan summoned Liao Zhengrong, the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, to Ganlu Palace.

"I pay my respects to the Supreme!"

Liao Zhengrong entered the hall and bowed to Li Xuan.

From a former knight-errant who started out by assassinating Tibetan generals with golden letters of appointment to the current Duke of Yu, he is truly a legendary figure.

The moment he became the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, it meant severing ties with all civil and military officials.

He only took orders from one emperor.

Since the sixth year of Tianbao, Li Xuan wrote the Jinyiwei manual to Liao Zhengrong.

He is now the most capable person in managing the Imperial Guard and monitoring all civil and military officials.

Li Xuan has already caught dozens of local governors and more than 200 county magistrates with dirty tricks.

There are countless other officials.

There was even evidence of corruption and bribery by officials close to Li Xuan.

But he was suppressed by Li Xuan.

He has just come to power, and his cronies cannot be touched. He will deal with them later.

Li Xuan would not tolerate any injustice. If Li Xian became greedy in his position, Li Xuan would definitely settle accounts with him in the future.

As long as he has the ability, Li Xuan will not be stingy with the position of prime minister, and it is even possible to confer the title of prince.

However, those aristocratic families, such as the prefects, county magistrates, chief secretaries, and county magistrates who had no relationship with Li Xuan, would often pretend to obey the court's orders but actually go against them and tell the powerful families about the court's orders.

Help the powerful and wealthy families conceal their household registration and bully the people in the village.

Li Xuan will not let them go.

He understood that he was now in the "military and political" era, and the central army and the governor's army, which he firmly controlled, numbered more than 700,000.

In addition to the Persian Empire, the number of Hu tribal soldiers and horses he could directly command exceeded 300,000.

When necessary, Li Xuan could transfer Hu's troops to the Central Plains.

These soldiers are well paid, so they naturally cannot add to the financial burden.

The only option is to target the powerful families.

"No need to be so polite, Zhengrong, how many Jinyiwei are there in each county now?"

Li Xuan asked Liao Zhengrong to sit down, waved his hand for the palace maid to serve tea, and asked him.

"Replying to Your Majesty, I have reorganized the original Changping recruits and recruited retired soldiers and personnel. Now the Jinyiwei has a total of 180,000 people. According to Your Majesty's instructions, the Jinyiwei only recruits retired soldiers, knights-errant, tenant farmers, civilians, and slaves, and no powerful families."

Liao Zhengrong replied to Li Xuan.

(End of this chapter)