unclear

Chapter 77
If the emperor wants to reduce the royal family's expenses, the courtiers can openly oppose it, or they can secretly obstruct it.Nowadays, when officials want to be promoted and eliminate dissidents and attack their opponents, no matter how clever the methods are, they still need the emperor's help.

Both parties have demands and have the necessary capital, so this deal can definitely be negotiated.Hong Tao planned to win over one faction and strengthen the other. To put it simply, he would show favor to whichever party was sensible and willing to cooperate with him, and approve more officials for promotion.

Otherwise, don't criticize it. No matter how good your political performance is or how high your public opinion is, you can always find faults if you want.If you have a blister on your mouth, you can say that your appearance is unsightly and unseemly when you meet the emperor. Who makes us the emperor?

You have to ask whether doing this will harm the interests of some upright officials. It is necessary. Failure to do so will be called a coward in private.Some of the foolish kings in history may have been born in this way.

But this is the cost of change. Faced with a system that has been in operation for more than 200 years, it is unrealistic to easily crack it with nothing.Hong Tao planned to use 50 years to gradually hollow out the foundation of this system by adding a large number of good officials and his own reputation.

At the same time, we are digging and repairing at the same time, so as not to let it collapse suddenly, but also to control it for ourselves.This is a delicate job, and the road must be long and long. I will search up and down, and there is no rush.

The young emperor, who had only been on the throne for just one and a half years, suddenly had the idea to significantly reduce the treatment of the clan. He also publicly debated with the opposing officials in the morning and finally won.

This incident was considered the most sensational in the first year of Jingyang, and it was even more eye-catching than the demon book case at the beginning of the year.All civil and military officials were eagerly waiting to see if the young emperor could withstand the pressure and get things done.

To be honest, except for a small number of officials who had unclear exchanges of interests with the clan, most officials were still happy to see the emperor start to solve this big burden.

But from the perspective of officials, they cannot be too positive.The three key points of debate in the early dynasty were not complete. In fact, what worried the officials most was not the ancestral system, etiquette, and stability, but the true attitude of the emperor and the harem.

As early as the Jiajing period, the "Zongfan Regulations" aimed at reducing the treatment of clans were also implemented, and the effect was quite good in a short period of time.However, as time went by and the clan population increased sharply every year, this law became useless and could not fundamentally curb the huge expenditure.

Moreover, officials also faced several unavoidable problems when it came to reducing vassal status.First, starting from the Chengzu Emperor Zhu Di, more than one emperor was born as a vassal king. If the contribution of the vassal kings to the country is legally denied, it is tantamount to denying the legitimacy of these emperors.

Second, if the vassal reduction is too severe, it will affect the reputation of the royal family.If even the emperor's uncles, uncles, and cousins ​​have to work for others to earn a living, or simply go to the streets to beg for food, it is not in line with the majesty of the royal family.

The most important thing is the third point. There is no reasonable and reasonable way to deal with so many clan members.If you are not allowed to do anything, you must be supported by the state. It’s not that they don’t want to make money to support their families, it’s you who don’t allow it!

Members of the clan were allowed to take part in the imperial examinations, or learn a trade to make their own way, but they were afraid that the emperor would take the opportunity to use the clan members to expand their power, or that the clan members would use their privileges to collude with officials to bully the market, annex land, disrupt the economic order of the empire, or even conspire to rebel.If these three points cannot be solved, no matter who becomes the emperor, he will not be able to completely get rid of this big burden.Despite the impassioned speeches made by the young emperor at the court meeting, when the idea is put into practice, it is estimated that the thunder will be loud and the rain will be light.

The best result is to come up with a temporary policy similar to the "Regulations on Suspensions and Vassals" just like Emperor Jiaqing, so as to temporarily solve the urgent need for the emptiness of the national treasury.In this case, the officials' enthusiasm for participation was not very high, and they were all waiting to see the young emperor's jokes.

However, this time the officials failed to calculate accurately. Just ten days after the meeting, the wind direction suddenly turned 180 degrees.

Shen Yiguan, Shen Li, and Ye Xianggao, three cabinet bachelors, expressed their views in private to their close colleagues. They unanimously praised the young emperor for his courage and vision, and that he was making great strides in the direction of becoming an emperor for eternity.

As the emperor's assistant ministers, they must give their full support without hesitation, follow the emperor closely to protect him, and fight to the death!
The emperor was young and inactive, and did not know the difficulties of reducing the vassal state. It is understandable that he would advance rashly.But the three cabinet bachelors were all political veterans, and they were all followed by a large number of experienced officials. How could they go crazy with the emperor?

When something goes wrong, there must be a demon. Where exactly this demon is hiding is not something ordinary officials can figure out.Even if they are right, there is no place to confirm the results. This time the cabinet's tone is very unified, insisting to the outside world that they are dedicated to serving the public, assisting the new emperor, and achieving great achievements.

But paper can never cover up the fire. As long as more than one person knows about anything, sooner or later it will be exposed.In less than a month, the answer to why the cabinet academicians suddenly changed their attitude gradually emerged, and then the whole court suddenly stirred up a stir, which was even bigger than when they just heard that the emperor was going to reduce the vassal vassal. more appropriate.

Those lower-level officials who had not paid much attention to the direction of the court had to open their eyes, stretch their ears, and stretch their legs to prepare themselves to benefit from this wave.

Outside inspection!The emperor actually negotiated the final arrangements for the external inspection officials with the cabinet academicians in private. No wonder the academicians belonging to several different factions suddenly became so united. The root cause is here!
Incumbent magistrates have been on the job for at least three years, who doesn’t want to be promoted?Officials have endured unemployment for several years. Who wouldn't want to fill the vacancies quickly?In the past, these quotas were allocated by the six ministries and nine ministers together with the emperor, but now they have become a by-product of a policy, which has to make people think more.

In addition, the ones who are racking their brains even more are the backbones of the various factions in the court.Now they are faced with two choices, either to stick to their principles and argue with the emperor, or to put aside their past grudges and temporarily cooperate.

The former can indeed reject the emperor's immature and radical ideas, but the strength of the faction will be damaged, and the strength of the rival faction may be strengthened. Once in and out, the gap will widen, which is extremely detrimental to future court battles.

The latter is relatively simple. Whoever supports the emperor more strongly will benefit more. At least he will not be distanced by his competitors. Where should we go?
(End of this chapter)