Tiantang Splendid

Chapter 4674 Go with the flow

Li Chengqian felt frightened. If Fang Jun's suggestion was approved by the ministers, wouldn't he, the emperor, be about to be emptied out?

Although he cannot control any army now, after all, in name, the affairs of every army must be decided by him as the emperor. Anyone who serves as the commander of the army needs his approval. This is a demonstration of power.

But if a new yamen is really added to take charge of the national army, then there will be an official in charge of the new yamen between the emperor and the army. The emperor's orders cannot be issued directly, and the generals cannot go up to heaven to listen. In the long run, Wouldn't it be easy to be ignored?

At that time, if someone wants to abolish the establishment of a new yamen, he only needs to win over the chief official of the new yamen, and it will be easy...

In the eyes of Li Ji, Liu Jie, Ma Zhou and others, purely from a business perspective, such a suggestion was extremely appropriate.

To be able to serve as the chief officer of such a yamen must be a figure recognized by both the military and the government. Such a figure must also be a generation of commanders with great military exploits and outstanding military strategies. Such a figure is responsible for the communication bridge between the emperor and the army. It can avoid to the greatest extent the possibility of the emperor being foolish and messing up his life and ruining the country.

For example, if the current Emperor, His Majesty, decides military and national affairs with just one word, who can rest assured?

On the contrary, no one is worried about the issue of evading imperial power. The Tang Dynasty has been established for a long time, and the upper and lower classes have been stable. It does not mean that whoever has military power can seek to usurp the throne. Being the chief official of this new yamen does not mean that he has the power of the general. Controlled by hand, there are still many checks and balances up and down, internal and external.

And if anyone wants to abolish the establishment, there is no need to seize the country's military power, as long as he can control the left and right Jinwu guards and the left and right leading guards...

Separating the military from its own system and reporting directly to the emperor is the most perfect system at the moment. The separation of military and political affairs can completely eliminate the formation of local warlords and make the national army work as one and as one arm.

However, not everyone will be impartial when speaking or doing things. When in court, they are tossed between various forces and interests, and sometimes their positions are not so firm...

Liu Jie immediately refuted: "It is unconventional and hidden. These suggestions of the Duke of Yue are just an attempt to seize the imperial military power. When the power is overwhelming and the country is isolated from the outside world, who can rule it?"

Li Chengqian looked gloomy and said nothing.

He is also the Lord of the Nine Provinces and Eight Wastelands and the World!

What is an emperor?

The greatest power of Zhongshu Sheng is to "confess and refute edicts". The emperor's holy will is prepared and issued by Menxia Sheng. It needs to be reviewed by Zhongshu Sheng. Once Zhongshu Sheng deems it inappropriate, it can legally revoke the emperor's will. The imperial edict was dismissed.

Liu Ji was startled and looked at Li Ji.

In fact, the emperor's power has been limited since the founding of the country.

You can't carry Li Jing out, right?

Fang Jun said: "I recommend Duke Ying to take up this position."

He did not believe that Fang Jun was as desperate as Liu Jie said in order to gain power. Looking at the court, there were only one and a half people who could live up to the words "indifferent to fame and fortune", one was Fang Jun and the other was Li Ji.

There are only a handful of people who can hold such a key position, and there is probably only one Cui Dunli among Fang Jun.

Liu Ji was stunned: "...Who do you want to recommend to such a critical yamen?"

He can accept his orders and be advised by his ministers, but he absolutely does not want his power to issue orders to be restricted!

Of course, the emperor can also skip the Zhongshu Province and directly issue imperial edicts to various agencies and ministers. However, "without Fengge Luantai, how can it be regarded as an edict?" The imperial edict is neither legal nor compliant, and will only harm the emperor. majesty.

But once this proposal is passed, the imperial power will be greatly reduced, which is something he, the emperor, is unwilling to accept.

There is absolutely no problem with loyalty.

Political orders are restricted by Zhongshu Province, and now military orders are also restricted by the newly established yamen. Then doesn't he, the emperor, really become a "puppet"?

In the past, he hated Liu Jie's style of "I will oppose whenever my opponent agrees", but now he feels that it is very considerate because Liu Jie said everything he wanted to say, thus avoiding conflicts between himself and Fang Jun due to disagreements. Possible suspicions...

Fang Junqi asked: "What about isolating China and the outside world, what about monopolizing power... Is Zhongshu Ling an auditory hallucination? When did I say that I took on this new position?"

Li Chengqian's heart skipped a beat, and his first reaction was: Could it be that these two people are secretly connected?

Up to now, the two largest camps in the Tang Dynasty military are Li Ji and Fang Jun. The former represents the interests of most Zhenguan nobles and is the representative of the old school in the army, while the latter is the banner of all the younger generation. The nobles and nobles resisted each other.

Due to the irreconcilable interests between the two, they formed two major factions, one is calm and steady, the other is enterprising, the other is shrinking domestically to protect interests, and the other is flaunting and profiting from the outside world. While opposing and resisting each other, they also formed a balance in the army, allowing Li Chengqian to turn around and stabilize his throne.

But once the two major factions eliminate the barriers and merge into one for some reason, he, the emperor, will have a restless night...

Li Ji was also taken aback, and immediately realized the hidden danger, and hurriedly said: "I suffered many wounds in the battle in my early years. In the past two years, I have suffered frequent injuries and have been in great pain. It is already reluctant to take over the post of Zuopushe, Minister of the Secretariat. How can I have the energy to worry about it?" Such a crucial position? Even if this yamen can be expanded, Your Majesty, please choose another talented person. It is not enough for a humble minister to show his strength."

He didn't know whether Fang Jun was really upright and honest, and did not avoid "enemies" when he promoted talents, or whether he said this deliberately to arouse His Majesty's suspicion. In short, he was unwilling to take over such a hot potato.

Ma Zhou, who spoke very little, suddenly interjected: "If the government and the public can pass through such a yamen, I wonder if the Duke of Yue has a secret manuscript and what is it called?"

Fang Jun smiled and said: "How about 'Privy Council'? 'The chief of the Privy Council is the Privy Envoy'."

Ma Zhou thought for a while, nodded and said: "It has the majesty of the center of the country, and it is easy to understand the meaning of fame. Not bad."

It means that he has agreed to this proposal, not only the proposal to add a "Privy Council", but also the proposal to recommend Li Ji as the "Privy Council Envoy".

Li Chengqian's expression remained as usual, but in fact he was dissatisfied.

Li Xiaogong, who still hadn't spoken much, sighed inwardly and said: "It is easy to add an additional yamen, but if you want to tie the national army under it, it is extremely troublesome to formulate various systems and regulations. It can only be done in a day or a month. To overcome the problem, extensive discussion and brainstorming are needed to ensure that everything is foolproof.”

Li Chengqian didn't dare to wait any longer, and then Li Xiaogong spoke and echoed: "Uncle Wang's words are quite reasonable. Whether such a big matter is approved or rejected, it should be carefully considered and considered repeatedly."

There are obviously many people supporting this matter, so it would be inappropriate to categorically reject it, so we can only put it aside for the time being.

But although Li Ji took the initiative to refuse to help, he may not have no idea about this "Privy Envoy" in his heart. If he and Fang Jun just hit it off, he, the emperor, would have no choice but to admit it...

Sure enough, Fang Jun looked at Li Ji and asked with a smile: "I have no selfish intention in making this suggestion. Your Majesty should know the dangers of the military's maladministration. Only in this way can we avoid the troubles caused by local military-political collusion and warlord separatism... But I don't know. What do you think, Duke Ying?"

Throughout the ages, no one who has reached the national level is a fool. In the face of bad government, most of them can see through its essence, but it is also because they have seen through its essence that some bad policies are harmful to the country but beneficial to themselves, so they let it go, while others are aware of their harm but unable to do anything.

How could a generation of famous generals like Li Ji, who grew up in the military and prospered and destroyed countless countries, not be able to see clearly the pros and cons of the "mansion army system"?

But maybe it was in their own interests, or maybe they were powerless, so they were unable to reverse the situation, causing the shortcomings to continue for a long time. Eventually, after a few decades, local military-political collusion was gradually allowed, and warlords were gradually born one after another.

Now Fang Jun is waiting for Li Ji's choice. From his choice, it can be seen that he really cares about his family and country, or is selfish.

Li Ji thought for a moment, looked at Fang Jun for a moment, looked at Li Chengqian, and said solemnly: "We believe that the hidden dangers raised by the Duke of Yue are too great to be ignored, and that military reform is imperative. However, Zhongshu ordered It is reasonable to say that the success or failure of hasty reforms is unpredictable, and may even have a series of negative effects, so we should be cautious about this. It may be possible to temporarily add a department to study and formulate military reform within the Ministry of War, headed by several ministers from the Military Aircraft Department Together with Cui Dunli, Secretary of the Ministry of War, we will be jointly responsible. When all systems, policies, and regulations are perfected as much as possible, appropriate opportunities will be selected to promote the entire army."

He could understand the wait-and-see, doubt, and even provocation in Fang Jun's last sentence, but the reason why he made the decision to agree with Fang Jun was not to prove to anyone that he was a "fair and selfless" person, but that he did agree with Fang Jun. Jun's opinion.

The "Mansion Army System" was applied to the Western Wei Dynasty. However, whether it was Yu Wentai who incorporated rural soldiers and recruited powerful rightists into the six pillar states to form a new military system, or whether Yu Wenhu reorganized rural soldiers and established the Twenty-fourth Army, or whether Yu Wenyong further expanded the government troops and completely institutionalized the "Fu Army System", all in order to better control the army and avoid being constrained by others and causing the army to become "fragmented." This resulted in the "Fu Army System" having a strong military strength. , also possesses the power of "counterattack".

Whether it is Yu Wentai, Yu Wenhu, or even Yu Wenyong, it can be said that success is a "mansion soldier" and failure is a "mansion soldier".

The stronger the scattered military force is, the harder it is to control it. Once it gets out of control, the world will be in chaos and war will be everywhere.

If we want to avoid or even put an end to the painful lessons of the Western Wei, Northern Zhou and even the former Sui Dynasty, we must reform the "government army system".

This is a mighty trend. Li Ji himself may not have the courage to promote this matter, but since Fang Jun has taken the initiative, Li Ji must follow the trend instead of ignoring or even fiercely opposing it because of certain emotions.

(End of this chapter)