I have lived forever since the end of Qin Dynasty

Chapter 425: The way to break the situation lies within

The wind and snow stopped outside.

Zhao Wan's carriage had already left two quarters of an hour ago.

Li Xu walked to the study room and found that the door was ajar, so he gently pushed it open and found that Chen Luo was still sitting upright, as if he had not changed since Zhao Wan left.

"I'm not going to eat now. I just want to be quiet for a while and ask them to leave some food for me." Chen Luo turned his head and said calmly.

It happened to be dinner time, and according to usual habits, Li Xu would stop by and ask him to go with him.

When Li Xu heard the reply, he didn't ask any more questions. He just nodded and said, "Okay, I'll go by myself first."

After saying this, he exited the study and closed the door.

When people deal with difficult problems, they desperately need coherent thinking.

Instead of spending half an hour to solve a problem, do it twenty or thirty times, thinking about it for two or three minutes each time.

Then the effect will be greatly reduced.

Obviously, Doctor Zhao just brought up a complicated problem.

It seems that Boyu has a headache.

I'll ask the chef to leave some more hot cakes later.

……

As the wooden door closed with a soft creak, the sound of Li Xu's footsteps gradually faded away and eventually became inaudible.

Chen Luo brought his thoughts back.

It is not easy to know what he and Zhao Wan want to achieve.

It even involves the struggle of feudal society that lasted for more than two thousand years.

Imperial power and prime ministerial power, the emperor and his ministers.

The ultimate trend of history is the formation of an autocratic monarchy. The prime minister, who is the head of the hundred officials, is abolished, and ministers cannot even stand when going to court, let alone sitting like they are now, and have to kneel.

Therefore, in the position of ministers, restricting the imperial power went against the overall development trend of the times.

Of course, there are no absolutes.

It is not unheard of for ministers to exercise exclusive power, even to the extent of abolishing and establishing officials.

But that all appeared when the emperor was young, or had limited abilities and was unable to grasp power.

If an emperor like Liu Ying was sitting on the throne now, Chen Luo would not be worried at all.

When Lu Zhi died, Chen Ping and the others managed to take control of most of the court without even using any political tactics. Liu Ying didn't even feel anything strange.

But Liu Che is different.

In terms of ability and political tactics, he will definitely be in the top ten in history, and can even be said to be a strong contender for the top five.

If he felt that the court was not under his control but had been usurped by a courtier, he would undoubtedly find a way to take back his power.

It was basically impossible for that powerful minister to survive, and the best outcome would be death.

As for doing something excessive, the entire family will be implicated.

Therefore, if Chen Luo lets himself or Zhao Wan play such a role to fight against the emperor, it is almost equivalent to walking on a mountain road on a snowy night and dying without knowing how.

After rejecting the most direct plan, Chen Luo was thinking about how to check and balance the imperial power in a more secret and complete way, so as to limit Liu Che's power within a certain range without making him feel uncomfortable.

Chen Luo raised his hand and rubbed his calf, which was slightly numb due to sitting for a long time.

This is not easy to handle.

Through the window, he watched the north wind swaying the dead branches, watching the fine snow falling, and watching several gray birds flying through the sky together...

Seeing the pictures flashing by, Chen Luo had an idea and suddenly came up with a novel idea.

My previous thinking seemed a bit limited.

Liu Che wanted Zhao Wan to serve as prime minister because he wanted to eliminate the influence of the official position of prime minister, thereby achieving the purpose of strengthening imperial power and further controlling the entire court.

My original idea of ​​restricting the imperial power was always to follow Liu Che's ideas and use the power of the prime minister to fight against the imperial power.

Let’s not talk about whether Zhao Wan has this ability.

In the feudal era, the dialogue between ministers and the emperor was not conducted under fair rules.

So why don't you break through the stereotypes and jump out of the box?

You must know that a single minister or faction cannot compete with the emperor.

But if we use the emperor himself to restrict the emperor, can we achieve unexpected results?

Chen Luo's new idea looks a bit mysterious, but it is actually not complicated.

The existence of "Emperor" seems to be an independent individual, but in fact it does not only refer to the person sitting on the throne.

Throughout the dynasties, no emperor could handle all government affairs alone, formulate all laws, and direct all wars alone.

Even an emperor with real power would have a considerable number of cronies under his command to implement his will and execute his decrees.

Compared with influencing Liu Che's will, it seems less abrupt to use it to restrict his behavior through his cronies.

After all, Chen Luo and Zhao Wan have repeatedly blocked the issuance of some government orders at key points, which will definitely make Liu Che impatient.

Even though they are both close ministers now.

But if you do this too much, the Holy Family will eventually run out.

But what if it were replaced by twenty or thirty people, taking turns to do this?

It is impossible for Liu Che to do something unique every time he goes to court. There are only a few cases where his ministers need to come forward to advise him.

Therefore, today it was these five or six people who stood up and spoke out to persuade. Next time, another five or six people wrote a letter stating that Liu Che's behavior was not appropriate.

In this way, if he wants to exercise imperial power unscrupulously, that may not be possible.

Of course, to truly achieve this goal, we need to pay attention to two aspects.

First, the ministers who wrote letters of advice were all trusted by Liu Che, and they would only advise when needed. Under normal circumstances, they should be Liu Che's right-hand helpers.

This point involves whether Liu Che is willing to follow their suggestions.

You must know that when the inspection system was implemented, didn't the conservatives write a letter asking him to stop inspections?
Liu Che ignored it.

The closeness of the relationship between ministers and ministers is related to the weight of words in his heart.

The second is that Chen Luo cannot directly interfere with the behavior of those ministers, and cannot express his fundamental purpose of restricting imperial power like he did in his dialogue with Zhao Wan.

Most people will definitely not be willing to do this after learning the truth.

Their future in officialdom is related to the emperor's likes and dislikes.

Few ministers whom the emperor disliked could reach high positions and enjoy a salary of two thousand dan.

And those people were willing to do this at first, but that doesn't mean they are willing to do it all the time. Time can change a lot, not to mention that it is definitely impossible for Chen Luo to understand the psychological thoughts of twenty or thirty people for a long time.

Therefore, the best way to avoid risks is to avoid them in advance and prevent these courtiers from knowing the true purpose of their actions. But in this way, there seems to be a paradox between the two focuses.

On the one hand, a group of courtiers who are taken seriously are needed to consistently point out Liu Che's wrong behavior.

On the other hand, these courtiers cannot know the fundamental purpose of their actions and must act like this without prior consultation and agreement.

It sounds like a foolish dream, and it is impossible to realize it.

Chen Luo narrowed his eyes and raised the corners of his mouth slightly.

In the eyes of others, this is an absolute dead end.

But he has the way to break the situation, even the only way.

That is Taixue.

Now that Liu Che is carrying out reforms, he must gradually replace the old officials and appoint officials who support the reform.

Where do officials come from?

The talented people who have been promoted are the main force.

These talents are the beneficiaries of the reform, and are naturally antagonistic to the old bureaucrats and military sects.

Therefore, it was only natural for Liu Che to use them to replace the old officials in the court and place the talented people in important positions.

Moreover, the talented people who were inspected must be appreciated by Liu Che in terms of their daily ability to do things. It is not difficult to win his respect and become his confidants.

Therefore the first condition has been met.

And these talented people who have been promoted need to pass the examination of Imperial College before they are qualified to serve as officials.

Then when they stay in Taixue, I can start from the teaching tasks and the final assessment content, and secretly guide their thinking.

When they left Taixue, they actually took the shape of Chen Luo.

When Liu Che issued some inappropriate government orders, he would subconsciously feel that this was wrong, so he wrote a letter to admonish him.

Of course, Chen Luo did not intend to train all the talented people who came from Taixue into a template of thinking.

That's bullshit.

Without prior discussion, if these people have consistent thinking, there will be too many loopholes.

When Liu Che did something that violated the rules, a large number of people in Wuyangyang submitted a letter, and the content of the document was the same as the requirements. Liu Che was not a fool, so he could definitely tell that something was wrong.

But this is the "wonderful use" of Taixue.

The three to five hundred talented people who have been promoted will definitely be overwhelmed if I have to fine-tune their code of conduct.

But by using Dr. Taixue to do this, Chen Luo only needs to be responsible for correcting Dr. Taixue's thoughts, so there is no problem.

After all, the doctors recruited by Taixue this time come from various schools and sects, and there are natural differences in everyone's ideas and demands.

For example, doctors from the Huang-Lao school hope that rulers will delegate power to local governments and maintain the current state of inaction.

Ph.D.s who studied farming advocated attaching importance to farming, and even wanted the emperor to do the farming himself and understand the sufferings of the people, so that he could do less corvee and less wealth.

As for Confucian doctors, they definitely want to cultivate rituals and music, bring order to the people, and establish a unified situation. The ruler must be diligent and love the people.

……

Changes in thinking happen subtly.

After these talented people entered Taixue, they studied under different doctors, and their thoughts gradually moved closer to them.

After all, although the Ph.D.s recruited by Chen Luo have different ideas and opinions, they can all justify themselves.

Most wise men will agree with their views after receiving instruction.

When they become officials, they will naturally have corresponding stances.

For example, if Liu Che wants to raise tax rates, farmers and students taught by doctors from the Huang-Lao School will write letters to express their opposition.

When Liu Che wanted to impose severe punishment, the students taught by Confucian doctors had different opinions.

In every aspect, there will always be people who find fault.

Sometimes, what Liu Che did was not necessarily wrong, and the suggestions made by those people were not necessarily wise.

But compared to the situation of a pool of stagnant water, Chen Luo hopes that there will be different voices in the court.

After all, if the sharp criticism is gone, the gentle advice will also become harsh.

Therefore, according to Chen Luo's idea, when Liu Che issues a certain decree in the future, some officials will be willing to stand up and express their objections.

Moreover, because those talented officials had different thinking directions, they did not all write letters to advise. Instead, a certain group of officials felt that it was inappropriate and hoped that Liu Che would withdraw his decree.

As a result, Liu Che made excessive decisions in all directions. When he wanted to use the imperial power willfully, there would always be different people to stop him.

This also conceals the traces of man-made arrangements.

From Liu Che's perspective.

The ministers who wrote the letter of admonition are all my right-hand men, and they have no social contact with each other on weekdays. How can there be any possibility of forming a clique for personal gain?

As for thinking that they all have a background of Taixue...

Impossible.

In the future, the inspection system will become the mainstream. I am afraid that nine out of ten ministers in the court will be from Imperial College. Even if Liu Che has the slightest suspicion, he can't remove all these officials, right?
If he does this, the emperor will really become a loner.

This is what Chen Luo envisioned, using the emperor's own thinking limitations to check and balance the imperial power.

Apart from the restrictions imposed by these ministers, if Liu Che still chooses to pursue certain wrong policies, Chen Luo and Zhao Wan will be the final insurance.

After all, given the status of the two powerful ministers in his heart, and with affection and reason, the possibility of persuading Liu Che to come back is very high.

With the blessing of Shudao Insurance, the possibility of Liu Che's willful success is very low.

Thinking of this, Chen Luo breathed a sigh of relief.

The plan he made not only solved Zhao Wan's problem, but also answered his confusion a few days ago, that is, how to get along with Liu Che in the future.

At that time, Chen Luo felt that repeatedly raising objections would arouse Liu Che's dissatisfaction.

Now it seems that many opinions do not even need to be raised by oneself. They can be influenced by Taixue in a silent place, and officials who come out of it take over the job and make suggestions to Liu Che.

Chen Luo might even put on a white face and deny certain suggestions to make Liu Che take them seriously.

Not to mention whether the arrangement is seamless, but during the operation process, there are restrictions on the implementers of each step, and they cannot get behind the scenes and understand everything. It is still very difficult for me to be exposed. After all, it is not really a party for personal gain. It has clear core members. My current situation seems to be using one "coincidence" after another to promote and achieve its ultimate goal.

It just so happens that this kind of accident is the most difficult for people to detect the mystery. It is a difficult problem to figure out whether there is a mastermind behind the scenes, let alone trace the source and find the person behind it.

Chen Luo stood up slowly, updated the plan that should be implemented in his mind, and planned to act immediately.

After sitting for a long time and having intense mental storms, my stomach was already empty.

and so……

He stretched, pushed open the door and walked out, "It's time to have a full meal."

(End of this chapter)