I am not a deposed emperor of Han Dynasty

At Yinshi on this day, Liu He waited in the greenhouse hall for the memorial sent by the cabinet.

He immediately saw the memorial at the top - Guang Luxun's memorial.

Liu He couldn't wait to take it and read it.

Sure enough, the cabinet had already re-voted.

The list of twenty alternate officials has been adjusted, and only half of it is the same as yesterday's list.

The half of the people who were adjusted in finally did not have much connection with aristocratic families or major sects of Confucianism.

Liu He didn't expect that Zhang Anshi and others would be immediately convinced by just "staying in the middle without making a move".

This is a mixed blessing.

Fortunately, the bachelors represented by Zhang Anshi were all smart people, and they quickly understood their intention of staying in and not sending out, and quickly corrected themselves.

What is worrying is that the academicians represented by Zhang Anshi are smart people, and they quickly figured out a way to communicate with the emperor under the cabinet system.

Both joy and sorrow come from the same reason, which is very rare and consistent with the so-called dialectics and contradiction.

Smart people are the most worthy of reuse, but they should also be wary of.

It seems that the cabinet is following Liu He's wishes this time, but it is estimated that it won't be long before they will find ways to take advantage of the loopholes like Zhu Ming's cabinet elders and junior cabinet elders.

Eliminate dissidents from the cabinet, instruct trustworthy foreign court officials to submit memorials on your behalf, and privately contact county and state officials to defy the emperor's edicts...

There is nothing new under the sun. These conspiracies and plots will probably continue to be staged in the Han court.

But until this time, Liu He still regarded Zhang Anshi and others as contributors and heroes.

Since they are all smart people and "loyal ministers" with good intentions, Liu He is willing to cooperate with them temporarily.

Unless it is absolutely necessary, it is not the time to kill someone.

As long as the cabinet system can continue to operate, the New Deal can be implemented one after another.

……

Without waiting for Fan Ke to remind him, Liu He dipped his pen in vermilion ink and stamped a big word "accurate" on the draft of the memorial.

This memorial was like an agreement, allowing the emperor Liu He to temporarily reach a balance with the important officials in the court headed by Zhang Anshi.

The cabinet, Zhang Anshi, and the aristocratic families behind them will, at least for a period of time, unreservedly support Liu He and the New Deal.

Liu He wanted to seize this empty time, put a few more stones on the chessboard, and prepare weapons to deal with them before they came to their senses.

"Fan Ke, write for me and give a thumbs up to today's memorials."

"only!"

……

After another hour, Liu He and Fan Ke had approved all the memorials.

"Take these red-approved memorials to the cabinet. Tomorrow at midnight, I will go to the cabinet room to deliver an oral message."

"Tell Zhang Anshi and the others that from tomorrow onwards, I will no longer go to the cabinet. I will criticize people in the Greenhouse Palace."

"Then let Zhang Anshi, Bingji, Wei Xian and Liu De come to the greenhouse hall to meet me, and I will discuss the next new policy with them."

"Wei!" Fan Ke answered immediately without asking any more questions.

Then he took several Changyi Lang into the palace and moved out the approved memorials.

Liu He sat on the couch for a long time, and his legs and feet felt a little sore, so he stood up and paced back and forth in the greenhouse hall.

Today's cabinet system is only in its infancy, and Liu He wants to build another government office to approving officials for himself - further restricting the cabinet, just like Zhu Mingshi's ceremonial supervisors and eunuchs.

But Liu He did not intend to open the door for internal officials to interfere in politics - reusing the internal official group to serve as an extension and spokesperson of the imperial power was tantamount to drinking poison to quench thirst, and would only bring more hidden dangers.

Now, the people Liu He trusted the most were naturally Yu Wuyou and Dai Zong, the officials who had followed him since the beginning of Changyi Kingdom.

However, these Lang officials have a heavy burden on their shoulders and their qualifications are too young to bear the responsibility of checking and balancing everyone in the family.

Moreover, it is not just about placing a few isolated people in the court to check and balance the big families. This cannot last long.

If they want to resolve this matter once and for all, they can only find another interest group to check and balance them. This interest group is Confucian scholars who were born in poor families.

In Liu He's vision, the cabinet system would continue to change—the final form would be very similar to the later bicameral system.

The first stage, which is now, can only allow the cabinet to check and balance itself.

The family members dominate today's court, so Liu He can only reuse Zhang Anshi and make them the majority in the cabinet.But Liu He also placed some outliers like Wei Xiang, Han Zeng and Zhao Chongguo among them, who could more or less check and balance Zhang Anshi and others.

As long as Liu He keeps a close eye on the cabinet, he can still control the situation, and there will be no situation where the cabinet will violate the emperor's edict.

In the second stage, a government office parallel to the cabinet is established to check and balance it.

In fact, this government office already exists, it is the Menxia Temple in name only.

This year the imperial examination system will be implemented. Liu He will select a group of outliers like Wei Xiang through the imperial examination system, fill them into the monastery, supervise the cabinet and assist in approving celebrities.

This can further restrict the cabinet.

The third stage is to weaken the strength of the big families in the Han Dynasty and sacrifice the strength of the poor families to make the two interest groups evenly matched.

Attacking aristocratic families will not only allow Liu He to take power, but also benefit the people.

It's a matter of killing two birds with one stone, why not?

In the fourth stage, the cabinet and the Menxia Temple formed a bicameral structure, with the cabinet responsible for discussing affairs and the Menxia Temple responsible for supervision.

By that time, everyone will have to take the imperial examination to select officials, and the relationship between officials, courtiers, and aristocratic families will be even weaker.

Compared with aristocratic families, Confucian students from poor families are more mobile, more difficult to form a stable group, and pose less of a threat to the imperial power.

All systems have limitations. As Liu He, he can only see this step.

How it will evolve in the future is completely out of Liu He's control.

Now, Zhang Anshi and others are willing to carry out reforms and implement the New Deal, but Liu He dare not take it lightly and continue to move forward.

The next step he was about to take was to use the imperial examination system to select talents.

Today's Han Dynasty has the system of inspection, appointment, and recruitment in parallel. It seems to be very rich, but in fact it is similar.

The system of appointment is the most backward, and the criterion for selecting talents is blood, which is a legacy of the official selection system of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.

The inspection and examination system and the recruitment system are slightly more advanced. The criteria for selecting talents seem to be virtue and ability, but in fact they are people's likes and dislikes.

If Liu He wanted to break the continuous rise of aristocratic families and major sects of Confucian classics, he had to implement the imperial examination system.

In this way, Liu He paced back and forth quickly in the greenhouse hall while thinking.

It wasn't until the blood in his limbs began to flow smoothly again that he walked into the bedroom behind the greenhouse hall.

Since Huo Chengjun entered the palace, no matter how late Liu He worked, he would always go to Jiaofang Hall to sleep, so the sleeping hall of Greenhouse Hall gradually became vacant and deserted.

Liu He now regards this place as his study room. Three bookshelves made of fine nanmu are placed against the three walls of the hall, with three types of books placed respectively.

The first category is the "old books" printed by printing workshops, mostly books from various schools of thought, Confucian classics and various laws.

The second category is the "new books" printed by the sealing workshop after Liu He copied them, most of which contain secret techniques and Liu He's experiences.

The third category is the "ancient books" written on bamboo slips. The contents are the crudest and roughest, but they have the highest circulation among the Han Dynasty.

After Liu He hesitated for a moment, he walked to the second bookshelf, took down two books from it, and returned to the front hall.

These two books were compiled by Liu He himself and are closely related to the New Deal he will implement next.

One is the "Imperial Examination Meeting", which introduces the implementation details of the imperial examination system in detail.

One is "Xiu Xue Yao", which introduces specific measures to reform the education system.

There are many more "Huiyao" like this on the bookshelf in the dormitory, all compiled by Liu He himself in the past six months.

Recently, the printing workshop is printing around the clock.

"Summary of the Peaceful Western Regions", "Summary of the Great Navigation", "Summary of the Military Conference", "Summary of the Farming Affairs Conference", "Summary of the Qihuang Conference", "Summary of the Peaceful Japanese Conference"...

In the past, when Huo Guang was still there, Liu He was in danger, so he didn't know if he could use these "Hui Yao", but now he can finally use it.

Liu He looked at the two books on the case and made his final decision in his heart.

The next two new policies to be promoted are the reform of the imperial examination system and the education system.

In the original timeline, it was absolutely impossible for the imperial examination system to be rolled out in the Han Dynasty.

But now it has become a possibility, because Liu He came and made arrangements in advance.

Papermaking and printing are the most powerful weapons. (End of chapter)