The Jagged Emperor of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1203 Secret Consultation
The next night, Liu Chan heard from Empress Zhang that she had specially vacated a courtyard for Zhuge Liang's family so that they could reunite in it, and the whole family felt very happy.

Especially that Zhuge Rong, although he has always been a bohemian and a complete prodigal, but today he behaved well.

Zhuge Rong and Liu Chan are old acquaintances, and they still have some contacts over the years, but they still can't change their temperament of being greedy for money and having fun. They are both so old and still think about having fun all day long.

However, Zhuge Rong has an advantage, that is, he can play with anyone.Therefore, through him, Liu Chan can also learn about the movements of many Jiangdong people.

From Zhuge Rong, Liu Chan could easily think of a character who was very troublesome in the past: Zhuge Rong's elder brother Zhuge Ke.That guy has been under house arrest in Chengdu all these years, and someone has always been taking care of him, but he will hardly be let out.The reason is that Zhuge Ke is really too smart and cunning. He caused a lot of trouble for the Shu Han in the governance of Jiangdong and Jiaozhou, and even the current Linyi Dudufu.

However, now that Zhuge Ke is disfigured in Linyi, he seems to have calmed down over the years and has become very honest, so Liu Chan rarely pays attention to this person now.In fact, even if Zhuge Ke is released at this time, he should not be able to cause any trouble.

On the third day, without Liu Chan calling, Zhuge Liang took the initiative to come to Liu Chan early in the morning.They had indeed made an agreement before, and they just started discussing business today.

Hearing Zhao Feng's report, Zhang Tianya couldn't help being a little amused, this prime minister is really too diligent in government affairs.

So Liu Chan hurried to the imperial study immediately, and he saw Zhuge Liang in the courtyard.

After the two greeted each other with a smile, they entered the imperial study room together, Zhuge Qiao and Xu Xiang were already waiting inside.

Then, Liu Chan asked Zhao Feng to close all the doors and windows. It seems that what the two of them are going to discuss today should be relatively confidential.

At this time, Liu Chan straight to the point said to Zhuge Liang: "Prime Minister, we have to discuss a lot of things today, so you have to be prepared to eat three meals in my imperial study."

Zhuge Liang said with a smile: "Then Your Majesty should give special instructions to the kitchen, saying that the minister's appetite is not large, so don't prepare too much food, so as not to waste food."

Knowing that this was Zhuge Liang's humor, Liu Chan laughed and said, "Prime Minister, the first thing that needs to be discussed is something that I have been thinking about for a long time, and I still need your approval in the end."

Zhuge Liang's expression immediately became serious.

Although Liu Chan is the orthodox emperor of the Han Dynasty, even though he has never been a monopoly and more often delegates power to his subordinates, in terms of power structure, the power of his prime minister, Zhuge Liang, is indeed large enough to restrict Liu Chan's imperial power.

"Your Majesty, please speak."

Liu Chan nodded and said: "You know, Li Yan's Yushitai is responsible for assessing the achievements of officials and impeaching officials. But in this way, their business becomes too heavy. Of course, more business is too heavy. It’s too complicated. They only have a few censors, even if they are equipped with a lot of people, they often make a mess because of the complexity of the business.”

Zhuge Liang frowned, he knew Li Yan's personality very well.Although he is the prime minister of the Shu Han and can control all officials, he generally does not participate in the affairs of Li Yan's Yushitai and Fazheng's Shangshutai.And Liu Chan, the emperor, actually acquiesced in the existence of this status quo.

Now His Majesty the Emperor suddenly asked him about Li Yan's Yushitai, and at the same time, Li Yan was not present, which made Zhuge Liang feel something was wrong.The worst situation he can think of now is that His Majesty the Emperor may have the intention of replacing Li Yan.

But for such an approach, even if Zhuge Liang disagreed with Li Yan, he did not agree.Li Yan, as one of the ministers of Gu Ming, has also experienced the powerful departments of Ting Wei and the current doctor Yushi at the same time. He has a high position and authority. Once his territory is moved, the impact will be great.

Zhuge Liang became a little nervous, and sat upright.

Liu Chan went on to say: "A few years ago, I asked Master Li Yan to do a lot of preparations when he was appointed as the court captain. Later, Yushitai also formed a team, which is an anti-corruption agency dedicated to supervising official corruption. I mean, I want Li Yan to coordinate with Tingwei and Yushitai, separate the ICAC, and set up a separate structure dedicated to monitoring corruption. And the business of Yushitai will be transformed into a special evaluation of officials performance department."

Zhuge Liang was a little embarrassed. He was a representative who always advocated streamlining the organization, and said: "Your Majesty, the country is still in troubled times, and the country's finances have always been very tight. If you want to set up a new organization now, you must increase the number of new staff. It is not a small amount of expenditure. Besides, the officials of the big man are relatively clean now, so it is not a top priority to set up such a supervisory agency."

Of course Liu Chan knows this, but things like corruption, even in the cleanest countries and eras, are unavoidable ills, and it is always better to prevent them before they happen, rather than wait until the situation becomes serious before dealing with it In that case, it is actually too late, the people have already lost confidence in the government, and no matter how to make up for it, there are already traumas everywhere.

So, the two discussed for a whole morning, and finally reached a mutual compromise. The ICAC can be established independently, and the position of the chief officer can even be higher than that of Jiuqing, but no new staffing will be added.

As for the candidate for the chief officer, Zhang Tianya thought about it for a long time, and at first he liked Yang Yi a little bit, but that person was probably not willing to accept it, so he finally chose Pan Jun, the prefect of Jiangling.

Zhuge Liang didn't immediately agree with Pan Jun as a candidate, but only replied that Liu Chan could list a few more suitable candidates before discussing.

At this time, it was already noon, and everyone's stomachs were growling with hunger. After a simple lunch, the discussion continued.

At this time, Liu Chan suddenly asked Zhuge Liang: "Prime Minister, do you feel that the time for the unification of the world has come?"

Zhuge Liang wondered: "Why does Your Majesty ask such a question? The unification of the world is the general trend!"

Liu Chan nodded and said: "It is indeed the trend of the times. In my opinion, the strength of my big man's side is increasing faster than that of Cao Wei's side. Our strength should already be stronger than the opponent's."

Zhuge Liang asked, "So, is Your Majesty planning to launch another Northern Expedition?"

Although the Shu Han should have already surpassed Cao Wei in terms of financial, material and military strength, but not by much. Liu Chan originally had no plans to make an immediate northern expedition, but after Zhang Yi and Yang Yi came to Jiangling City, Liu Chan felt that When it comes to the interior of the Shu Han, it is not a monolith, and the strengths of all aspects of the interior are also intricate.

Therefore, he felt that if the unification war was not carried out as soon as possible, he was afraid that there might be a danger of splitting forces within the Shu Han in the future.

Only by unifying the world as soon as possible, then by then, Liu Chan will have enough power to integrate various domestic forces.

Therefore, Liu Chan smiled at Zhuge Liang and said, "The Prime Minister really knows my heart!"

Zhuge Liang hesitated, and said quite solemnly: "Your Majesty, please forgive me for speaking bluntly. Doesn't it seem a bit too hasty for me to do this now?"

When Liu Chan heard the words, he knew that even Zhuge Liang had doubts about the unification war now!

In history, the reason why Zhuge Liang personally led the army to carry out the Northern Expedition continuously should be due to the strength of the Shu Han regime at that time, which was simply unable to compete with Cao Wei.Under such circumstances, if the Shu Han continued to defend Yizhou, the attack would be no different from waiting for death.

Therefore, Zhuge Liang of that era could only adopt extremely radical countermeasures, using the strategy of attacking instead of defending, and the weak side took the initiative to attack the powerful Cao Wei.

In fact, in Liu Chan's view, this situation is really very similar to Japan during World War II.They clearly know that their national strength is inferior to that of the United States, but if they do not challenge the United States, then strategic materials such as oil will gradually dry up, and the result is also waiting for death, so why not give it a go!Therefore, the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor was a matter of course, and then the Pacific War between the United States and Japan also followed.

Comparing these two wars, no matter from the motivation to the result, the history is so similar.

However, with the joint efforts of Liu Chan, his officials and generals, and even everyone in the Han Dynasty who performed their duties, the Shu Han has surpassed Cao Wei not only in terms of land, but also in terms of national power.

(End of this chapter)