The big man is on the run

Chapter 14 Who will be the Queen?

Return to Weiyang Palace.

Zhong Yao, who had been waiting for a long time, seemed quite happy to see the emperor, so that today he did not promote the "Cao Cao's Reliable Theory" that he was very keen on.

The screen retreated to the left and right, only Liu Yi, Zhong Yao, and old man Wang leaning against the shadow of the pillar were left in the front hall.

"But is there any clue about 'that matter'?" Liu Yi asked looking at the handsome middle-aged man in front of him.

"Reporting to Your Majesty, not yet."

The so-called "that event" was guided by Yang Biao and Zhu Jun, presided over by Zhong Yao, and participated by several reliable officials. They instigated Yang Bo and Song Guo, officers in Li Jue's army.

And the military official Yang Bo was the one who let Yang Xiu come over in Nanwu that day. He was somewhat related to Hongnong Yang's family, and he became a small official a few years ago because of Yang's recommendation.

A person like Yang Bo is a private person who wants to die for the Yang family in the moral concept of the great Han. Nowadays, in the Li Jue army whose education level is generally only A Niang's prenatal education, it can be regarded as a certain status, and it is not surprising that the ministers regard it as a breakthrough .

Of course, this military official Yang Bo's moral bottom line is relatively flexible. In other words, there is no lower limit.

After witnessing the Xiliang army controlling the imperial court and treating the emperor's officials as nothing, Yang Bo not only did not intend to undertake the obligations to the Yang family, but instead opened his mouth, so the ministers never reached an agreement on the instigation between him and Song Guo .

What's more, Liu Yi vaguely guessed that the reason why Li Jue caught up so quickly that day was that this person leaked the news when he reported it!
Liu Yi only knew about this matter, and had no way of intervening.

Zhong Yao will not report to him the specific details of any actions.

In fact, Liu Yi has already discovered that these ministers simply treat him as a child and a puppet.

In the Great Han Center of Chang'an City, there are thousands of officials maintaining the superficial operation of this huge empire.

And even if Liu Yi escaped from Nanwu, now he is Taiwei Yang Biao who records the affairs of the minister and presides over the daily work of the court, so he will not report to him at all.

This is also one of the reasons why Liu Yi wants to go east as soon as possible.

His resistance comes from various aspects. Apart from the military aspect, it is difficult to deal with the complex factions of the Xiliang Army. Politically, Liu Yi also urgently needs to take advantage of some kind of change to truly achieve the goal of controlling the court.

Therefore, he began to make excuses for things that the gentry would never do.

"That's the merit-seeking order I'm going to do, Shang Shutai thinks it's feasible?"

Zhong Yao looked troubled, and said with a wry smile, "Your Majesty, don't mention this matter again."

"Why, I want to ask the world's talents to be used by the court, can't I?"

"The imperial court selects scholars with its own filial piety and honesty. Besides, Chang'an Pavilion is overcrowded."

Liu Yi smiled coldly, and said, "If you have to be a powerful gentry and come from a lowly background, you can't be an official?"

Zhong Yao was speechless.

The Great Han court has its own rules here, even if many of the officials are superfluous officials and waste, but behind them all stand their own families, or the gentry who pass down the poems and books, or the local people who cover the sky with their hands. powerful.

If you let a large number of low-level talents come in, won't they be squeezed out?
If the Son of Heaven insists on making the so-called merit-seeking order, he will have trouble with all the officials.

"Then what I want you to do to save the land and garrison the land, how is it implemented?"

"I am incompetent, please resign."

Zhong Yao didn't say that he was just a servant of the Huang family, and he couldn't decide the things that the three lords and nine ministers could do, so he directly took off the crown and bowed down.

"Forget it, get up, why is Zhong Qing here?"

"Your Majesty." Looking at the face of the emperor, Zhong Yao said slowly, "The important matter of the country lies in the sacrificial and military affairs. The three princes and the ministers feel that there is no longer any delay in the appointment of the queen."

Liu Yi was silent for a moment, then asked, "What do you mean, ministers?"

"Let Fu's daughter be the queen, but Dong Cheng's daughter must not be made."

"Tell me."

"Your Majesty must know that Fu Zhan, the ancestor of the Fu clan, was the Grand Situ during Emperor Guangwu's time, and was granted the title of Marquis of Yangdu.

Fu Wan has a noble character and profound Confucianism. He married Princess Yang'an, the daughter of Emperor Huan. "

"I know." Liu Yi felt a little helpless, "What Zhong Qing means is that the Fu family is a gentry family, much stronger than an unfounded military leader like Dong Cheng. Is that what you mean?"

"Not at all."

"Your Majesty, it is customary for foreign relatives to increase the number of generals to become marquises. If Dong's daughter is established, what will happen if there is another chaos?" Zhong Yao hesitated for a while, and spoke with difficulty.

After the words were out of his mouth, Zhong Yao relaxed a lot, he analyzed sincerely.

"The country's affairs have fallen to this point. The eunuchs and relatives are the root causes. It is also because of the former emperors who did not use the gentry, and even caused a disaster that lasted for decades, which led to this end."

"After the first three emperors in this dynasty, the emperors were generally young when they ascended the throne, and no one was over 15 years old. This must have caused the empress dowager to authorize her relatives to take power. Does your majesty know what the biggest consequence is?"

"The emperor's authority is lost? The relatives deliberately choose the young emperor to prolong the time in power?"

"No!" Zhong Yao replied seriously, "It's the country's Imperial Academy and a whole system of scholar training that collapsed."

Liu Yi didn't understand what the Empress Dowager and her relatives had to do with the collapse of the scholar training system.

Probably seeing the emperor's doubts, Zhong Yao sighed and explained in detail: "The emperor is the father and teacher of Confucian scholars. This is the basis for Emperor Guangwu to establish the system of educating and selecting officials. The empress dowager and her relatives cannot afford this status. of.

It is precisely because of this reason that the young emperor could not bear the status of a scholar and teacher in the world, and Emperor Guangwu's system design was destroyed, so private education flourished, and that's why there were noble families who have been ministers for generations. "

Officials are produced from scholars, and the emperor's role as a "teacher" in the cultivation of scholars has been absent for a long time because the emperor was young. This is similar to the Jinshi produced by the imperial examination system in later generations. There is a reason for scholar-bureaucrats to form gangs and worship the wharf.

"Your Majesty should have guessed that it was the foreign relatives who led to the abolition of the country's Confucian official selection system, the prosperity of private schools, and the rise of the gentry who inherited knowledge.

"And every relative who took the place of the emperor in charge of the country, and even the eunuchs who later withdrawn the support of the emperor in order to fight against the relatives, stood on the opposite side of the gentry. This is the root of the disaster of the party, and it is also the chaos of He Jin, and even the world today The source of the separatism of the princes."

"How to break it?"

"It's useless to crack it!" Zhong Yao, who was kneeling on the table, was very helpless.

"Your Majesty, the most important thing now is to appoint Fu's daughter as queen, with the heart of the Anshi clan. You have to figure out who is supporting you and who is against you."

"Dong Cheng and these Xiliang army leaders are not reliable. What you can rely on are the Chang'an nobles like Fu, and the Kanto ministers who are still loyal to the Han Dynasty like Cao Cao."

If you don't say the last sentence, I will really believe it.

Currently, for Liu Yi, the gentry in Chang'an are relatively reliable.

But the root of this reliability is that they must maintain the legitimacy of the court by maintaining the authority of the emperor, and then maintain the legitimacy of their own power and wealth.

It's not that the gentry are really loyal to Liu Yi himself!
But now in the troubled times at the end of Han Dynasty, it is not pleasant to say it, just like the popular saying in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms in later generations-the Son of Heaven, whoever has a strong soldier and a strong horse will do it.

Ask how many divisions the gentry have in their hands?

Not to mention the big goal of rejuvenating the Han Dynasty to wipe out the separatist regime, but to take care of the middle goal of the Xiliang Army, and even the small goal of escaping from Chang'an City.

For Liu Yi, the most needed thing is not a scholar who memorizes Confucianism and classics, but a real warrior with a knife in his hand!
Liu Yi understood this truth from the first day of crossing when he rose up to kill people.

Some things have no absolute right or wrong cause and effect at all. Liu Yi must carefully screen out the information that is really useful for him to restore the situation, and make a decision based on this.

Thinking of this, Liu Yi thought about his rough plan to break the situation, and couldn't help but want to have his own counselor more and more.

Zhong Yao, Yang Xiu, it's not that he has tried heart-to-heart solicitation, but it didn't work at all!

Their position is still on the side of the gentry, representing the interests of the gentry.

But the gentry can control the court by themselves, and Zhong Yao and Yang Xiu have no intention of personal loyalty to Liu Yi, the emperor.

To put it bluntly, judging from the results, Zhong Yao and Yang Xiu were born in the wind and water of Cao Wei, while Dong Chengdong and Fatty died for him!

Who is more loyal, or who is likely to become an inseparable part of his core interest circle, Liu Yi can figure it out.

Therefore, Li Fushou as the queen is of course the need of the country's laws.

But for Dong Pangpang, Liu Yi had to completely bind him with him.

There are more than 3000 Xiliang troops under Dong Cheng's command, which is also the army that Liu Yi is most likely to win over.

But the premise is that Liu Yi must test Dong Cheng's attitude!

Even if the history books prove that Dong Cheng was loyal in the Yidai Zhao incident a few years later, it does not mean that Dong Cheng is loyal to him now.

Moreover, most people are selfish.

There are really noble people in this world who will die in order to help the Han family, Liu Yi will definitely believe it.

Even if he is just a puppet emperor, he also believes that there must be many people in this era who are willing to throw their heads and blood for him as an emperor.

But judging from what he has seen and heard so far, Dong Pangpang has never done bad things in the Xiliang Army, and he can't be called a "loyal minister" anyway.

Therefore, Liu Yi felt that Dong Cheng's actions in the history books may also be mixed with his own selfish desire to monopolize the emperor.

What he has to measure for himself now is the extent of Dong Cheng's selfishness.

If it is Liu Yi's ideal need to have a top adviser to help his staff make plans, then drawing the army for his own use is the most critical and realistic need in Liu Yi's plan to break the situation.

"Let Fu's daughter be the empress." Liu Yi paused, and said resolutely: "But if you want to make Dong Cheng a Marquis, I will go there myself!"

(End of this chapter)