I want to be emperor

Chapter 556

Wang Lin, one of the deputy directors of the Secretariat of the Imperial Academy, went to Liaodong on behalf of the emperor Luo Zhixue to condolences to the soldiers in Liaodong, and read out the imperial decree to some useful soldiers. The folks in the hinterland formed a huge response.

The National Edition of the Dachu Mansion Daily focused on the condolences and awards this time, and the many awards made many people feel enthusiastic about seeing them, wishing that they were the soldiers who had done meritorious service.

Zuo Yingzhe's becoming the fifth Duke of the empire also aroused certain repercussions.

In this way, it greatly aroused the enthusiasm of the people to join the army and apply for the military academy, and it also aroused the people, especially the gentry, to identify with the empire.

Although the vast gentry class in the empire generally supports the empire and actively participates in it, it is also nonsense to say how much they agree with the empire.

Their support is more of a kind of submission, because basically all those who do not surrender are dead...

In addition, it is also for one's own benefit to join in it. If you don't join in, how can you become an official?
In order to be an official, they can even kneel down without integrity to foreigners, let alone Luo Zhixue, who was born as a thief.

But in their hearts, many of them actually look down on Luo Zhixue, headed by a bunch of thieves who came from high-ranking empire officials. Many scholars went to the imperial examinations of the Great Chu Empire to become officials, and many of them held the goal of purging the Qing Dynasty. mentality to go.

Many people want to get rid of the high-level officials who were former thieves in the empire, and then let traditional scholars like themselves control the power.

Join if you can't beat it, and then gradually squeeze the enemy out, so that only your own people are left in the enemy's camp, so naturally you will win without victory.

For their own benefit, in order to fight for power, they actively participated in the imperial examination, but it did not mean how much they recognized the empire.

But now, after the Great Chu Empire has won successive victories in external wars, some people's mentality has gradually changed.

How should I put it, they feel that although the empire has a lot of unreasonable internal policies that they even strongly oppose in their hearts, at least they still have a way of fighting abroad, and they can beat the Dongcap people to lose their temper.

And this is the effect that the Ministry of Rites and Education needs, or the effect that Luo Zhixue needs.

As long as this continues, the people's sense of identity with the empire will be gradually established in the follow-up!

It will affect some people at a time, then ten times, one hundred times, and it will last for more than ten or twenty years under the subtle influence, especially the new generation of young people who have received the new education of the empire and grew up under the rule of the empire. They will have the empire A higher sense of identity.

Luo Zhixue's vision is relatively long-term. He doesn't care about the changes in a few years in a short period of time. What he wants is the changes in ten or twenty years.

And according to Luo Zhixue's estimation, with a period of more than ten to twenty years as accumulation, the foundation of the basic science of the empire will basically be laid, and the steam engine will be produced naturally by then.

In this way, it will be logical for the people and the empire to work hard to promote the industrial revolution.

Therefore, Luo Zhixue once again gave instructions to the Ministry of Rites and Education, praised their recent work achievements, said their work titles are excellent and effective, and asked the relevant officials of the Ministry of Rites and Education not to be proud, to continue to work hard and contribute to the cause of education .

In addition to verbal praise, Luo Zhixue also expressed his importance to the work of etiquette by being promoted.

On October [-]rd of the seventh year of Chengshun, Luo Zhixue issued an oral order to recruit Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of Confucianism and Education, and Meng Dongyang, who was in charge of imperial examinations and residence newspaper affairs in the Ministry of Confucianism and Education, joined the Imperial Study to assist in important military and political affairs.

The co-organizing minister of the Yushufang, this is the rank in the Great Chu Empire that is only after the Yushufang Counselor, and is more powerful than the ministers and ministers of ordinary departments who have not been able to enter the Yushufang.

Although the power structure of the Great Chu Empire is very complicated, it is basically clear after several years of adjustments. The emperor Luo Zhixue has an overview of the overall situation, and the nine counselors are under one person and over ten thousand. Big chunk of business.

Under the Minister of Counseling, there are the co-organizing ministers. These co-organizing ministers subdivide several tasks in detail and also have great power.

For example, Song Zhang, one of the nine ministers of affairs, is the crown prince and grand teacher. He is a first-class minister and concurrently serves as the minister of the Ministry of Rites and Education. , urban construction, transportation and other affairs.

Outsiders generally don't directly call him Song Shangshu, but respectfully call him Song Canwu or Song Minister, and sometimes they are respectfully called Song Sanshi.

The titles of many reports in Da Chu Di Bao are more official and standard. Articles with Song Zhang as the protagonist are generally called "Song Zhang Counselors"; articles with multiple Counselors are called Song Chapter participation.

As for the protagonist being Luo Zhixue, he often only says "Song Zhang and other courtiers accompany you" at the end of the article...

From this title, we can basically see Song Zhang's power.

Under Song Zhang and other participating ministers, there are co-organizing ministers.

Take Meng Dongyang, the co-organizer who is new to the Imperial Study Room as an example. Before entering the Imperial Study Room, he had already obtained the title of Prince Young Master, which is a title of the second rank.

This title alone has made him directly surpass a group of other ordinary servants and governors of various provinces in terms of rank.

This title was actually to elevate his rank, so that he would be directly responsible for most of the work of the Ministry of Rites and Education as the left servant of the Ministry of Rites and Education.

You must know that Meng Dongyang is in the Ministry of Ethics and Education. Although he is the left servant of the Ministry of Ethics and Education, in fact he is directly in charge of the three core institutions of education, imperial examinations, and newspapers.

The Ministry of Ethics has one hundred rights, and he has eighty!

The main reason is that Song Zhang is the minister of the Ministry of Rites and Education...but Song Zhang is the minister of the Ministry of Rites and Education, and to put it bluntly, he just gives him a seat. There is no office space, only when you are on duty in the palace, you can work in the side hall on the side of the imperial study...

The crown prince and grand master belong to the title, and it is not a fixed job.

If he is not given a seat as a minister, he doesn't even have an office outside the palace to handle daily affairs during off-duty hours...

But in daily life, it is impossible for him to personally manage the work of the Ritual Education Department. He is in charge of four or five ministries, and he often has to go to the palace to be on duty.

Therefore, the actual work of the Ministry of Rites and Education is in charge of the Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of Rites and Education, so Meng Dongyang, the Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of Rites and Education, has relatively great power. Department of Shangshu tied.

In other words, Meng Dongyang was already considered a senior official at the Shangshu level before, but he didn't have the title of Shangshu.

This situation also existed in several other departments of the Great Chu Empire where the top leaders were ministers of affairs, but it was more prominent in the Ministry of Rites and Education.

Now that Meng Dongyang has been recruited into the imperial study to assist in important tasks, he has truly squeezed into the power core of the Great Chu Empire. In the future, he may even have the opportunity to further become a minister of counselors, a real one person under ten thousand people.

And this is also the signal that Luo Zhixue wants to reveal to the officials, that he attaches great importance to the work of etiquette, education and cultural propaganda.

Meng Dongyang happily entered the palace and went to the imperial study to assist with important affairs, but when someone came on stage, someone else stepped down.

After all, although there is no quota for ministers of counselors and co-organizers in the imperial study, there are generally rules. For example, civil affairs, transportation and other affairs of the Ministry of Rites and Education, that is, among the many affairs that Song Zhang is in charge of, there are generally only two co-organizers.

If there are no major accidents, it is unlikely that the number of places will be increased.

Therefore, before Meng Dongyang became the co-organizing minister, someone naturally stepped down from the co-organizing minister's position. The former Minister of Civil Affairs and co-organizing minister Song Tielin had already begged for bones in late September, and His Majesty persuaded him to stay twice before officially approving it.

Song Tielin was one of the earliest civil servants in the empire. It was not because of his ability that he became Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, but because he was a dragon early enough.

Because his abilities couldn't keep up, what he did in the past two years was beyond his capabilities, although Luo Zhixue gave him a lot of time to learn and adapt.

But the effect is not great!

Under such circumstances, Luo Zhixue naturally wouldn't let him sit in the Ministry of Civil Affairs. The empire is currently developing at a high speed, and there are a lot of things to do, and the Ministry of Civil Affairs is involved in relief, resettlement of victims, and immigration. These matters were very important in the early days of the empire.

However, Song Tielin did not do well. The immigration settlement in the Shaanxi-Gansu area did not achieve much results, and now there is not much population in Gansu. Luo Zhixue has some opinions on this.

Now that the empire has regained the Liaoxi Corridor and the Liaodong Peninsula, and now the front-line army continues to fight fiercely with the Dongcap, maybe next year it will be able to completely win Liaodong.

The follow-up empire will definitely need to organize a large number of people to immigrate to Liaodong for reclamation, so as to strengthen the empire's actual control ability in Liaodong, and provide assistance for the subsequent large-scale military operations and expansion in the Northeast.

In addition, the Great Chu Empire also acted quickly in Monan Mongolia, recovering a large number of Mongolian tribes. The follow-up empire also needs to organize personnel to station in Monan, prepare to build a number of cities in suitable places deep in the grassland, organize immigration settlements, and implement herdsmen. travel policy.

At this time, the responsibility of the Ministry of Civil Affairs is relatively large.

Luo Zhixue intends to change someone to organize the immigration and reclamation affairs. Otherwise, it will be troublesome if the empire has conquered the Northeast and Mongolia, but cannot actually control it.

Although Song Tielin was unwilling, he also knew that His Majesty's patience with him had come to an end.

In August, Song Tielin was a little chilly. When His Majesty sent someone to visit, he heard a message that he should rest more if he was not in good health, so as not to become ill from overwork...

At first glance, there is nothing wrong with these words, but people in the officialdom know that there is something wrong with them...

Because in the words passed by His Majesty, the only words were to tell him not to work so hard and take a good rest... But there was a sentence like: Only when you have a healthy body can you do things for the country!

Everyone is a smart person, even if Song Tielin is not very capable, but after all these years in the high-level official circles of the empire, he has somewhat gained political awareness.

Hearing this, he knew that he should beg for bones...

If you pretend that you don’t know and continue to stay in your position, then you are not begging for bones, but have been dismissed by impeachment... If you don’t accept it obediently and want to carry out various political resistance, then various investigations will follow, and even There is prison.

Song Tielin also went through ups and downs to come to the present. Although he was unwilling, he also knew that he could not fight against the overall situation, let alone disobey His Majesty's hint.

Ever since, the wind and cold hadn't healed yet, Song Tielin wrote a letter to beg for the bones, saying that after years of hard work, his health was no longer good, and he hoped that His Majesty would be more considerate of this old minister, and let him take a good rest and live longer, so as to witness the greater empire of brilliance.

According to the usual practice, Luo Zhixue retained him twice, and when Song Tielin wrote for the third time asking to be appointed, Luo Zhixue officially approved it.

In this way, the position of a co-organizer was vacated, and Meng Dongyang had room for his superior position.

Otherwise, if there is no place for him, Meng Dongyang will not be able to take the place.

In terms of Gyeonggi, although the change of a co-organizer has some influence, it is not too big. After all, there are [-] co-organizers, and basically one or two people will change at intervals. At the same time, the power of the co-organizer is relatively limited, so The impact is limited.

It is far less influential than the change of the Minister of State Affairs!

In fact, there has been no change in the Minister of Counseling in the past few years. Since Zhang Xu, Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, entered the Imperial Study and became Minister of the Imperial Study, the staff of the Minister of Counseling has not changed.

But it is impossible to remain unchanged all the time!
Whether it is Luo Zhixue or other officials, it is impossible for these nine ministers to stay on top and control power.

Luo Zhixue wanted to prevent the ministers of counselors from holding great power for a long time and gradually turning into ministers of power.

And the other courtiers, especially those co-organizers who were eagerly waiting to be promoted, all waited for these ministers to leave, and then took the position directly.

The other ordinary ministers, the powerful servants, are also waiting for the co-organizing ministers above to take the position or leave, so as to make room for themselves to take the position.

Therefore, it is very necessary to maintain the turnover of ministers of counselors.

During the establishment of the empire in the early years, in order to maintain stability and avoid policy turmoil, Luo Zhixue never changed personnel.

This group of ministers of affairs have been ministers of affairs since the establishment of the empire, and even before Luo Zhixue proclaimed himself emperor and founded the country, they were already the ministers of the actual central government.

Calculated before and after, most of them have been in power for seven or eight years, and it is time to gradually replace them.

When Luo Zhixue had such an idea, then the next thing will be a matter of course.

On November [-]th of the seventh year of Chengshun, the Procuratorate submitted a secret document to impeach Chen Xingkai, Minister of the Ministry of Taxation, and Chen Xingkai for corruption.

Luo Zhixue didn't even need to send additional people to investigate, he could know from the top-secret internal affairs information submitted by the Internal Affairs Department of the Imperial Academy that this matter should be caused by Yan Zhengli, the left servant of the tax department.

His motivation is also obvious. It is nothing more than seeing that Meng Dongyang, the left servant of the Ministry of Ethics and Education, has become the co-organizer and is expected to take power in the future. He can't bear his ambition.

As the left servant of the tax department and the co-organizing minister, he is naturally quite powerful, but because Chen Xingkai, the secretary of the tax department and also the minister of affairs, is only in charge of financial issues such as taxation, property, etc., especially focusing on taxation issues, so most of the taxation department Chen Xingkai is personally responsible for the authority.

Therefore, the contradiction between these two people is not small.

However, it is normal for the courtiers to fight. Almost every moment, these ministers of the Great Chu Empire are fighting each other...

Normally, Luo Zhixue would not bother to deal with such matters.

But it just so happened that Luo Zhixue was going to make some adjustments to the Minister of Affairs, and he couldn't find any good excuses for a while, so this matter happened to hit the gunpoint.

Ever since, Luo Zhixue went along with the flow!

Not long after, the Son of Heaven summoned Chen Xingkai to hand over the impeachment secret to Chen Xingkai without saying anything, just asking him to pay attention.

When Chen Xingkai saw this impeachment secret letter, he already knew what the emperor wanted to do.

As the Minister of Counseling and Minister of the Taxation Department, there are many people impeaching him, but in the past, major issues have been reduced to trivial matters, and in most cases, they have stayed behind.

But now, the Son of Heaven showed Chen Xingkai all the secret documents of his impeachment...

The meaning is already obvious: you should give way!
If Chen Xingkai doesn't know what to do and insists on fighting, he is standing on the opposite side of the emperor. It is not a secret impeachment, but a formal investigation, and the crime of investigation will not only be corruption.

If you don't do it well, you will be ruined!
Ever since, in mid-November, news came out from the court that Chen Xingkai was seriously ill and was admitted to another hospital on the outskirts of Jinling for recuperation.

After the emperor heard about it, he sent an imperial doctor to see a doctor, and reported that Chen Xingkai was sick from overwork and could no longer walk...

On November 27th, the Son of Heaven personally went to the other courtyard of the Chen Mansion to visit his old subordinates who had worked together for many years. During this period, Chen Xingkai recalled the past in Funiu Mountain in front of the hospital bed... Then he said that he could no longer drive around, and implored him to become an official.

And also recommended to Luo Zhixue some candidates who could succeed him.

On December [-], the seventh year of Chengshun, Luo Zhixue formally approved Chen Xingkai's retirement.

On the same day, the Son of Heaven appointed Tang Fengze, the left servant of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, as the Minister of the Taxation Department, and at the same time recruited him to be a military and political counselor in the Imperial Study Office. This gentleman was one of the candidates recommended by Chen Xingkai!

It is worth mentioning that just ten days later, someone from the Procuratorate impeached the co-organizer, Yan Zhengli, the left servant of the tax department.

Behind this matter was the new Minister of Counselor Tang Fengze's promotion. He not only wanted to thank Chen Xingkai for his recommendation, but more importantly, he wanted to control the power of the tax department.

After all, he is an airborne minister and has never worked in the tax department before. It is not so easy to take over the taxation power smoothly.

And the best way is to get rid of the original real power Zuo Shilang, and make an example to the monkeys, no... just kill the monkeys to make an example of the chickens, so as to quickly take control of the overall situation.

As for Luo Zhixue's struggles among these courtiers, as long as they don't touch the principled things, they will generally not respond...let them fight.

If the courtiers don't fight each other and play together every day, Luo Zhixue will have to worry about it.

In this matter, if Yan Zhengli has enough means to resist Tang Fengze's suppression, there will be no problem in overcoming the difficulties, and he can even take over most of the taxation department's power directly if he has the opportunity.

If he can't do it... If he can't deal with the new Tang Fengze, then he deserves to be unlucky!

Political struggles have always been cruel, and the Great Chu Empire is no exception!
It just so happened that Tang Fengze also brought out real evidence for impeachment, and won many people to support him in the meeting of ministers of counselors.

So Yan Zhengli was defeated!

On December 23, the emperor issued a decree to remove Tang Fengze from his post as co-organizer and Zuo Shilang of the tax department.

When Yan Zhengli received the decree of dismissal, he could still calm down in front of others, but when he returned to the study, he was stretched out on the grand master's chair.

This game, he lost!

But he is not reconciled!
He managed to defeat Chen Xingkai with great difficulty, and vacated the positions of Minister of Taxation and Minister of Counselor above him, but he never thought that Chen Xingkai would ambush him before his downfall, and confuse the king with all kinds of past events. And then successfully pushed his henchman Tang Fengze to the top position.

And Tang Fengze's superiority not only caused Yan Zhengli's ambition to be superior, but also directly led to the counterattack by Chen Xingkai and Tang Fengze's faction, and he was dismissed in a complete defeat!

It's just that, whether it's Chen Xingkai, Tang Fengze or Yan Zhengli, the struggle between them is not a big deal in Luo Zhixue's view. Even if there are no such things, he will adjust the personnel of the Yushufang. They just caught up That's all.

It is Luo Zhixue's established plan to control the power of the court to keep the ministers of counselors and co-organizers in the imperial study room moving.

Chen Xingkai was the first to step down, but he won't be the last!
In fact, after Chen Xingkai stepped down, Luo Zhixue was already preparing to replace the second Minister of Counselor.

The nine Ministers of Counseling will be replaced once a year, and they can be rotated once in about nine years. In this way, the term of office of each Minister of Counseling is about nine years.

Of course, there can be no average in the actual situation!
In Luo Zhixue's view, a minister of counselors has held real power for about four or five years. If there is too little time, he will not be able to govern and see any results.

Four or five years is enough time for him to implement the strategy in his chest and see the effect. If the effect is good, then continue to work. Luo Zhi Society will give him another four or five years.

If it doesn't work, get out and make room for someone else!

In the process, Luo Zhixue will also use various methods to implement this unspoken rule, such as adding titles, which is very useful.

Right now, he still needs all kinds of hints, all kinds of things to push the boat along the way, but after two years, when the practice is formed, Luo Zhixue doesn't need to do it himself, and the courtiers who haven't been promoted by the end of the year will also ask for the above-mentioned resignation.

By that time, the central power of the entire empire will be able to carry out continuous replacement while maintaining stability, and realize an overall personnel flow system.

This system is exactly what Luo Zhixue wants.

In contrast, the fates of Meng Dongyang, Chen Xingkai, Tang Fengze, and Yan Zhengli are not just small waves in the process of promoting this system!

It seems important, but in fact it doesn't affect the overall situation.

(End of this chapter)