Three whips break the father-son relationship, please call me prince

Chapter 342: The Ministry of Shangshu changes, Li Shimin personally selects Di Renjie as the top scholar
Li You was appointed as the Grand Commander of the Southwest.

No one objected, let alone any objection.

If you don't let Li You go, then you can become the Grand Commander of the Southwest and really pacify the Six Zhaos to prevent future troubles.

Let the mountain burn, and then you can do it?

Since what the King of Qi proposed was his idea, let him realize it.

He also brought Hou Junji with him.

That's even better. With all the civil and military officials present, everyone can sit in the court and wait for good news.

In this way, Li You's new position was officially confirmed.

How about he go to the southwest.

The court doesn’t care, it only cares about the results.

As for the vacant position of Grand Marshal in the Northeast Grand Marshal's Office, Han Yuan naturally took it.

After so many years, Han Yuan also has prestige in the Northeast and is able to subdue the people below.

……

After the southwest issue is settled, the court will soon face two major events.

One is the reform of the Secretariat.

The other one is the Spring Examination.

That is, the provincial examination and the palace examination.

But the reform of the Secretariat must take place before the Spring Examination.

On the eighth day of the second month, Li Shimin officially issued an edict to reform the Secretariat, establish one prime minister and eight deputy prime ministers, and determine the candidates for prime ministers.

First, Zhangsun Wuji was promoted to the position of Prime Minister of the Secretariat.

In the 25th year of Zhenguan, Changsun Wuji finally achieved his dream of ascending to the highest position among officials and realizing his dream.

He had waited too long for this day.

Fourteen years before the Zhenguan period, he was forbearing and low-key, but fourteen years after the Zhenguan period, he had to step to the front and deal with the emperor, the crown prince, officials from all walks of life, and the aristocratic families.

It can be said that every step Changsun Wuji took was like walking on thin ice and he was trembling with fear.

Relying on the relationship with the founding heroes, the relationship with the external relatives, and the relationship with the aristocratic families, one can look forward to the throne of the highest position among the ministers.

But precisely because of this, there are too many intertwined interests entangled with him.

For many people, it is something they long for, but when they have it all, they realize it is a mixed blessing.

In any case, after many setbacks, Changsun Wuji finally took the position of prime minister.

Next came the first deputy prime minister.

This deputy prime minister was none other than Li Chengqian’s father-in-law, Su Tan.

Su Tan was originally in charge of the Ministry of Personnel affairs, and Li Chengqian also found opportunities to promote his father-in-law every now and then.

Now he has enough qualifications to be promoted to deputy prime minister.

After that, there were six deputy prime ministers: Xiao Yu, Cui Dunli, Ma Zhou, Yang Shidao, Cen Wenben and Li Rengong.

There is one chief and seven vice-chairmen, and one position is temporarily vacant.

But the allocation of these eight people is extremely particular.

Zhangsun Wuji was a relative by marriage and had a close relationship with both the emperor and the crown prince.

Xiao Yu is a representative of the Jiangnan gentry. He is now very old, almost eighty years old.

Normally, he should have left the center to retire long ago.

But in Jiangnan alone, there is no one who can come up with something outstanding and has sufficient qualifications.

The only option is to let Xiao Yu take the throne, but how long he can last is not up to the two palaces to decide.

It's Xiao Yu who is not good enough.

Of course, he wouldn't stay for too long.

However, the Jiangnan gentry also contributed to the overthrow of Lu this time, so they should be rewarded.

Needless to say, Cui Dunli and Yang Shidao.

Li Rengong represents the Guanlong nobles and has a military color.

Ma Zhou and Cen Wenben were both promoted to power by Li Shimin.

This is the same as Li Chengqian promoting Su Tan.

However, Li Chengqian let his father-in-law take the position of prime minister as a reward for his father-in-law's unremitting support over the years.

in this way.

There are various complex relationships behind the eight positions.

No one can become the vice prime minister easily.

The allocation of the prime minister of the Secretariat this time is closely related to the overthrow of Lu.

Without the overthrow of Lu, there would be no reform of the Secretariat.

There wouldn't be so many second-rank officials appearing all of a sudden.

"There is also a deputy prime minister position."

"Who do you think it will be given to, uncle?"

Chang Sun Wuji's face was flushed and he was in high spirits. He sat in the study and drank tea and talked with Gao Shilian.

"Did you guess it?" Gao Shilian said with a smile.

He couldn't help but sigh.

As soon as my nephew took the position of Shangshu and Prime Minister, he changed a lot.

It is true that power can nourish people's hearts and change their spirit.

Once you become prime minister, the world will be vast and the sky will be wide open.

"It should be him."

Changsun Wuji said: "The Spring Examination will be held in Chang'an soon. If nothing unexpected happens, Wei Zheng will be promoted to the last vice prime minister after the Spring Examination."

"Gao Ming really misses this teacher."

"Before he proposed the reform of the Secretariat, he must have already thought about how to push Wei Zheng to the top."

This is actually not difficult to guess.

In the entire court, he is the only one who can still sit on the last deputy prime minister's position.

There is no one else.

There was only Wei Zheng.

Not to mention Changsun Wuji, he is a relative of the emperor and serves as prime minister, which makes him a balance point in the eyes of Your Majesty and the Crown Prince.

This time, Your Majesty allowed Cen Wenben and Ma Zhou to join the Secretariat.

It is impossible for the prince to push only his father-in-law.

Your Majesty has two, and the Shandong family has two, so how could the prince only have one?
Therefore, the last phase must belong to the prince.

Wei Zheng was the Prince's Grand Tutor, and it was impossible for the Prince to forget this teacher.

It has not been decided yet because Wei Zheng is still in charge of the imperial examinations.

"Wei Zheng is not in good health."

"After presiding over the imperial examinations, I'm afraid he won't be able to stay in the position of prime minister for long."

Gao Shilian felt a little envious and also resentful.

Xiao Yu is almost eighty years old, and he can still be a prime minister. If he had not been implicated by the Shandong family, he would still be in the Shangshu Province.

Maybe he could also take the position of this year's Shangshu Prime Minister.

only…….

He glanced at his nephew.

If he were still in the court, it would be difficult for his nephew to take the throne.

"But he did sit on it."

Chang Sun Wuji said.

Wei Zheng had always been a censor and a loyal minister. He was previously in charge of the affairs of the Menxia Province and had not been specifically involved in the affairs of the Shangshu Province.

His official rank was very high; being a deputy prime minister of the second rank was a bit of an overqualification.

However, the meanings they represent are completely different.

This may be what the prince did to make up for Wei Zheng's shortcomings so that Wei Zheng would not have any flaws.

"With the promotion of officials and the previous vacancies, I am afraid that many people will follow suit."

Gao Shilian asked, "Is it possible for Ji Fu to go up?"

"Even if he is in charge of one department."

Ji Fu is the most important flag bearer of the Gao family at the moment.

It can also bring help to Changsun Wuji.

"Not for now. Gao Ming still has the final say over the Eastern Palace. It's unlikely that Gao Ming has no ideas."

"Anyway, let's take it one step at a time."

Gao Shilian also understood, so he nodded and said, "It can only be done this way."

……

mid february
Li Chengqian bids farewell to Li Ke and Li You.

Before leaving, Li Chengqian talked to the two of them.

"Tianzhu is your fiefdom, it won't change, your title is still the King of Wu."

Li Chengqian said: "But we still have to wait a few years."

"You should sort out Tianzhu's affairs first."

"Whether Tianzhu is heading south or west, it will not only be your focus, but also the direction of the court's future."

"You are the bridgehead and the vanguard."

Li Ke nodded solemnly and said, "Don't worry, brother. I will handle the affairs of Tianzhu as soon as possible."

“Then explore westward.”

"Well, you have to be careful about the situation in the west. We know nothing about the west yet."

After explaining things to Li Ke, it was Li You's turn.

Li Chengqian didn't have much to say about Li You's words.

He just felt a little embarrassed to order around such a beast of burden.

But the Tang Dynasty wanted to expand and develop outward.

It is inseparable from the "gifted" Li You.

"When you go to the southwest, you must take good care of your health."

"Write back more often."

"You just need to remember one thing. I'm in Chang'an. I'll take care of everything for you."

Li You grinned and said, "I feel relieved when you say this, brother."

"Watch me operate!"

Li Chengqian smiled and said, "I wrote a letter to Du Zhenglun. He is in Huanzhou and is currently the governor of Jiaozhou Governor's Office."

"You are in the southwest and he is in the southeast."

"One in the east and one in the west, moving forward in parallel, they can just take care of each other, and maybe they can go south together."

"If you have any problem, you can contact him and he will cooperate with you."

Du Zhenglun used to be the prince's left assistant of Li Chengqian, but later he lost control of his mouth and said things he dared not to say.

Then he was exiled by Li Shimin. After Li Chengqian came to power, he found an excuse to send him to Jiaozhou.

Although this is a bit unfair to Du Zhenglun, after all, it is a bit too much to throw him so far away.

But Li Chengqian helped him ascend to the position of governor of Jiaozhou step by step. His official rank was completely different and he was promoted very quickly.

"it is good!"

……

Following Li Ke, Li You left Chang'an.

The Spring Examination was also held.

The examination questions this time were not easy, and only fifty-six people were admitted.

These fifty-six people can be said to be the best among people.

His abilities and knowledge are absolutely beyond reproach.

Of course, those who were not admitted also had corresponding identities and could serve as officials.

This was arranged by the Ministry of Personnel.

The eighth day of March.

The palace examination was held as scheduled, and Li Shimin personally set the examination questions.

All he gave was three words.

Holy Son of Heaven!
This question not only confused the candidates for the palace examination.

Even Li Chengqian and others were stunned.

The test questions you set are too good, aren’t they?
But if you think about it carefully, these three words "Holy Son of Heaven" are indeed very good.

Because the name of the Holy Son of Heaven includes everything and covers everything in the entire Tang Dynasty.

No matter what angle you approach it from or what the content is, you can't avoid the Holy Emperor.

"I thought you were shameless, but I didn't expect the test questions to be so difficult."

Li Chengqian thought secretly and couldn't help laughing.

After a long wait, it finally ended as everyone handed in their exam papers one by one.

Li Shimin asked Li Chengqian and others to review it together.

He couldn't wait to see how the test takers wrote.

Ten days later.

The palace examination results are announced.

Li Shimin personally selected Di Renjie as the top scholar.

His answer was extremely brilliant. In the article of several thousand words, he did not mention Li Shimin, but the earth-shaking changes that took place in the Tang Dynasty that he described were in no way out of the shadow of the Holy Emperor.

Invisible pretense is the most deadly.

Di Renjie wrote it to please Li Shimin.

Of course, all the officials in the court, including Li Chengqian, were delighted.

All these things done for the world are under the wise leadership of the Holy Emperor. So how wise and capable should the ministers under the wise leadership of the Holy Emperor be?
(End of this chapter)