Taizong Chapter 20: Fighting for the Prefecture in the First Year
"Do you want to resign?" In the Chui Gong Hall, Emperor Liu Yang frowned slightly. He looked unexpectedly at King Lu Liu Ai who was standing solemnly in front of the emperor with his hands folded. There was a hint of dissatisfaction in his deep voice.
That's right, it's King Lu. Just this summer, Emperor Liu Yang gave more grace to his brothers. Of course, he was only targeted at some people. Among them, Liu Yang served as the assistant to the King of Lu and Liu Zhao served as the legitimate son of the ancestor.
His Majesty was King Yan of the Jin Dynasty, and at the same time, the fifteenth emperor's brother Liu Xi was given to Shu Gong, and the sixteenth emperor's brother Liu Yao was given to Han Gong.
So far, all the sixteen sons of Emperor Shizu have had famous titles. Liu Yao was ranked the last, and he was young. Being given a title was simply a matter of grace. In comparison, the fifteenth son Liu Shan was much more miserable.
She had already reached the age of being granted a title, but because she disobeyed the emperor's will and was unwilling to enfeoff to save the country, she was beaten out of bed and killed to scare the monkeys. In addition, Concubine Hui's words and deeds in begging for a title angered the late emperor, so much so that Liu
Even though Yangdu had ascended the throne, Liu Yan was still nameless and in an extremely embarrassing situation, unable to hold his head high among the upper-class dignitaries of the capital.
It is sad to say that Liu Yang's grace finally resolved Liu Yan's embarrassment, allowing the twenty-four-year-old Liu Yan to finally "raise his head" as a human being.
Of course, Liu Yang also sympathized with Liu Shan's experience and felt that the late emperor's punishment was too severe, but the purpose of showing kindness to him was obviously not that simple.
Winning people's hearts is one of them. At least Liu Yan's mother and son have been extremely grateful to Liu Yang since then. Concubine Hui even praised her for being wise and benevolent when she met everyone. She continued to make Liu Yang famous in the circle of noble ladies in the capital. At the same time,
, after all, Concubine Hui's surname is Fu, she is the biological sister of Empress Xiaoxianren, and the second aunt of Liu Yang. In view of this relationship, it does not hurt to indulge in a personal friendship that goes along with the flow.
Of course, as a mature politician, personal affairs only accounted for a small proportion of Liu Yang's decision-making factors. Behind the awards to his brothers, there are some more obscure but more critical reasons: the prince.
Undoubtedly, the choice of the crown prince was the most serious of the many problems Liu Yang faced after he came to power, and it could not be avoided. From the moment he ascended the throne, the struggle started overtly and covertly in all aspects.
As early as the time of Emperor Shizu, there was already no peace in the East Palace. There was a lot of overt and covert fighting between the Crown Princess and Concubine Zhao, as well as the two military and political forces of the Murong family and the Zhao family they respectively represented.
However, the scope and intensity of the struggle at that time were limited. After all, Emperor Shizu was suppressing it. If the trouble was really serious, not only would he be punished, but the prince would also suffer.
Of course, Princess Murong failed to give birth to a prince for a long time, so she chose to adopt Liu Wenji, the son of Concubine Xiao. This led to the struggle in the East Palace for quite some time being manifested in the "jealousy" among women.
"superior.
The fundamental change began when the Crown Princess gave birth to her legitimate son Liu Wenpeng, which was a landmark turning point. From then on, the Crown Princess was just like the Empress Fu back then, with an aura of righteousness and unshakable power.
In contrast, Concubine Zhao's biggest "reliance" was not so reliable. After all, in the Han Dynasty's ritual system, the distinction between concubines and concubines always came before the order of elders and younger ones.
When it comes to the issue of successors, compared to Emperor Shizu's "impartiality", Liu Yang has always been in a state of hesitation, with a somewhat wavering attitude.
On the one hand, he instinctively supported the system of direct heirs, and on the other hand, he had high hopes for the two older princes who had spent a lot of his efforts. The latter was in line with Emperor Shizu's psychology at a certain stage.
It is precisely because of this contradictory mentality that before ascending the throne, there was no discussion of the issue of the prince. At the ceremony, Murong was only established as the queen, and the prince was not mentioned at all. Such a decision was just to
Wait a little longer, take a closer look, and discuss it later.
After all, the crown prince is related to the foundation of the country. The appointment of a prince is not only a matter of establishing the title. After giving the name, you also need to give the power. Think about the configuration of the East Palace at the beginning of the appointment of the prince. It involves the court situation and causes the central power system of the empire.
With distribution changes, that's for sure.
If that were the case, Liu Yang would have to worry more about many major political affairs, especially personnel issues. Why would he put himself in such an embarrassing situation?
Perhaps it is also the instinct of an emperor to naturally reject the division of his own authority. What's more, he has only been an emperor for a long time and has just begun to enjoy it. He is also in his prime, so why rush for a while?
On the other hand, not rushing to establish a prince is also a kind of protection for the successor. It has been difficult to become a prince in all dynasties. As a prince who has been for nearly thirty-five years, Liu Yang has a great say in this aspect.
Finally, I was able to break out, wear the yellow robe, and achieve righteousness. This is all the result of great perseverance, great wisdom, and great patience.
One is difficult to determine his intentions, the other is his own authority, and the third is to avoid party disputes. Based on these three reasons, Liu Yang sent a clear signal to the court and put the crown prince issue on hold for the time being.
However, this was just wishful thinking after all. Liu Yang wanted to postpone it later, but others didn't think so, and it was difficult for him to do so. In the past more than half a year, people in the palace kept whispering reminders in his ears.
Someone from the local area wrote a letter saying: Determine the foundation of the country early to calm people's hearts.
And from those complicated personnel affairs and advice, it is difficult to distinguish between good and evil, and all that can be seen is unpredictable human hearts and selfish interests. Among them, except for those clear-minded academics who have to say something in everything to show their presence,
The one who showed the most urgency was the Zhao Group headed by Zhao Kuangyi and Zhao Dezhao.
They have nothing to hide in this matter, and they can't hide it in that position. Not to mention how strong Zhao Kuangyi's political ambition is. Even if he is indifferent and quiet, there will inevitably be a bunch of people behind him to push him out and lead everyone.
Go and fight.
The Zhao family has long represented not only the Zhao family, but also a large number of noble and bureaucratic interests. Although Emperor Shizu suppressed the Zhao brothers at the beginning, he did not kill him in the end, which resulted in the Zhao family always being in the Han Dynasty.
It has strong internal influence and holds some voice.
Zhao Kuangyin is in the army and Zhao Kuangyi is in politics. No one dares to underestimate the strength and foundation accumulated by these two brothers over the past few decades, especially Zhao Kuangyin. Although he himself and most of the nobles at the same time have passed away, with them as the core
The military and political power group that was formed has survived, grown, and become intertwined.
Of course, this cannot be regarded as a very stable military and political alliance. There are also internal differences and the cohesion is not that strong. Otherwise, given the temperament of Emperor Shizu, it is very possible to kill him.
However, most of the time, their interests and needs are consistent. For example, on the issue of the prince, everyone's support must be stronger and they can work together as much as possible.
After all, although the Han Empire was large, the power and various resources at the top were ultimately limited. If the cake could not be expanded further, they would have to compete with each other.
Up to now, on the same dining table, the royal family's dinner plate is naturally the largest and the food is the most delicious. For every other family, the plate has basically been fixed. If you want to make a breakthrough, you must either continue to expand outwards, or start from the same table.
Grab food from the plate. In comparison, the latter may be more difficult and risky, but the rewards are also higher.
For the group of nobles and bureaucrats with the Zhao family as the core, the rewards for raising the prince born in the Zhao family to the position of crown prince and inheriting the throne in the future must be considerable.
Of course, for the powerful, it is not advisable to go all the way to the dark side. Once things get difficult, it is natural to jump off the ship directly. But at least in the early stage, some real support will be provided. Based on this
Point, Zhao Kuangyi mobilized a very powerful force in the court to overcome the difficulty of "Prince".
On the other hand, as one of the historical issues left by Emperor Shizu, the Han Dynasty had a huge group of meritorious officials, various interest groups, and the situation was also very complicated. He was not the only one of the Zhao family.
At least as the other protagonist in the battle for the crown prince, the Murong family is no less important than the Zhao family, and their strength and influence are even greater. If we only talk about the size of the power, there is no specific standard, and each has its own advantages.
It's pretty evenly matched.
But from the beginning to the end, the Murong family actually dominated the Zhao family. Murong Yanzhao was a veteran of Yuan Cong and the commander-in-chief of the early Han Dynasty. Zhao Kuangyin was a latecomer no matter how great his later achievements were.
Just don’t mention the meritorious achievements of the previous generation, just look at the two concubines, one is the main wife, the other is the side concubine, the superior and subordinate, the status has been determined early, this is the Murong family’s greatest confidence in this struggle, from the Han Dynasty
The etiquette system gives her legitimacy, which gives her a natural advantage over Concubine Zhao.
It is precisely because of this that Zhao Kuangyi seems so urgent. He is a traditional civil servant who practices morality and etiquette. He is also very aware of how stubborn and powerful the set of etiquette that has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people for decades is. If it were not for his position and interests, he would definitely
I don’t think about challenging it, after all, I am going against the trend.
At the same time, only by fighting for it early will they have a greater chance of success. At least for the moment, Liu Wenhuan still occupies a "long" character. The "virtuous" aspect also showed up in Shizu's later years. Liu Wenpeng is growing up, if not
If he continues to fight hard, as time goes by, Liu Wenhuan's competitive strength will only continue to weaken, his advantage will gradually be evened out, and the other party will always occupy the orthodox position of the legitimate son. This is a process of one ebb and flow.
Therefore, before Liu Yang ascended the throne, Zhao Kuangyi was secretly planning. After the ceremony, he became more active, running around, connecting and joining forces to launch a political activity to "establish a prince."
In the early spring of the Han Dynasty, Zhao Kuangyi did not participate in the battles between feudal lords and princes in the court hall of the Han Dynasty. He showed indifference because he put all his attention and energy on the matter of "establishing a prince."
A big thing has happened. This is the big picture. Is there any investment in the world that is more exciting than "fighting for the country"?
For the same reason, Murong's side was much more restrained overall, and the one who made the overall plan was naturally Murong Defeng, the Minister of Personnel.
In fact, the Murong family and the Zhao family have the same attitude towards promoting the establishment of a crown prince. Especially Queen Murong, who also hopes to determine the title early so as not to give the Zhao mother and son a chance. After all, people's hearts are unpredictable and things will change later.
Putting the cake on your own plate is the right thing to do.
Therefore, there were too many struggles and too many interferences in the palace, which made both the Queen and Concubine Zhao boring to Emperor Liu Yang during that period.
Among the courtiers, Murong Defeng was the first to be praised for their understanding of the emperor. After observing for a while, he tried his best to persuade the queen not to force Liu Yang too much. No emperor likes to be forced to make decisions.
Murong Defeng even knew that although Emperor Liu Yang was a generous and benevolent person who was often criticized by Emperor Shizu as "pedantic" and "without courage" in the past, he was actually a man with very upright ideas.
After the emperor had revealed his attitude towards the appointment of the crown prince, Murong Defeng persuaded Empress Murong several times before she calmed down. His words were consistent with Zhao Kuangyi's thoughts.
Time is on their side, and the longer it is delayed, the better it will be for them. If a five- or six-year-old child is appointed as the prince, it will easily stir up controversy among opponents, but if ten years pass, the controversy will plummet.
.
Therefore, if nothing can be done, why bother to anger the emperor? What the queen really needs to do is to protect the young prince and train him carefully. As long as he does not make big mistakes, no matter what the Zhao family does, it will be difficult to shake their status.
After all, if you do too much, you will make mistakes. If you go too far, not to mention how wise the emperor is, the Murong family is not a vegetarian.
On the issue of competing for the heir apparent, Murong Defeng was considered rational after all, but not everyone shared his understanding, and the Murong clan did not have the final say alone. The queen in the palace, the queen outside the palace,
The Duke of Wei, Murong Deye, and some of the Murong family's clever people always refused to listen to the advice, and either took the initiative or passively got involved.
Of course, the battle waged by Zhao Kuangyi was really too big! In that spring, from meritorious officials to court officials, from capital officials to local pastors, hundreds of people came to Liu Yang one after another.
Please establish a prince. Many of them are very important. As long as you expand, you can trace their outstanding achievements and involve intricate relationships.
And although these people did not mention making Liu Wenhuan the crown prince in a single word, they still meant that between the lines.
He could see through Zhao Kuangyi's methods at a glance. This kind of behavior, which was not about forcing the wife to marry him, deeply angered him. Murong, who followed closely behind, shared part of the anger.
Seeing that the dispute between the two parties became more and more fierce, and even gradually evolved into mutual criticism, Liu Yang couldn't bear it anymore, and directly found an excuse to issue an edict to reprimand Zhao Kuangyi and Murong Defeng. It is interesting to say that within two or three months, Yong Xi
The prime ministers almost took turns being lectured by the emperor.
Accompanied by Liu Yang's beatings on the "main members" of the two parties, fines and fines, power seizures, and demotions. In this way, seeing that the emperor was really determined and did not want to establish a heir apparent,
The two sides then stopped fighting.
However, the impact of the "First Year Seizing the Crown" incident continued to spread, almost throughout the entire Yongxi Dynasty. However, the subsequent struggle was no longer as face-to-face and face-to-face as this time. Of course, the Ming Dynasty struggle changed.
Fighting in secret, with swords and shadows, cold spears and hidden arrows, most of all hurtful, and all kinds of cunning tricks are endless.
At that time, it had already affected the court situation. First of all, after Song Bai was relegated to Qingzhou, the successor candidate was initially proposed to be Jia Huangzhong, the minister of the Ministry of Personnel recommended by Zhao Kuangyi, but was finally rejected by Liu Yang and was changed to the former Kaifeng Prefecture Yin.
Liu Jichang.
Liu Jichang was a blessing in disguise. Because of the negative consequences caused by the "Yankang Street Incident", he was left out in the cold by Liu Yang for a while.
Fortunately, at least he has the title of Cabinet Bachelor.
Zhao Kuangyi failed to do so, and Murong Defeng also suffered a big setback. First of all, Jia Huangzhong, the "Zhao Party", could not be driven away. At the same time, his proposal to use Fu Zhaoyuan as the chief envoy to Liaodong failed to pass in the end. Liu
Yang finally chose Zheng Qi, the deputy chief minister of Henan, because of his outstanding achievements in Henan’s tax reform.
Obviously, no matter what the reason was, neither the Zhao family nor the Murong family could get a good deal, and both received strong beatings from the emperor.
However, Zhao Kuangyi was not as disappointed as he imagined. It was disappointing to see things not work out, but at the same time, he more clearly captured the hesitation in the emperor's attitude, and this hesitation was the hope of Liu Wenhuan and the Zhao family.
Subsequent events seemed to support this. Liu Yang conferred titles on three princes at the same time. Liu Wenhuan was given the title of Ruyang County Duke, Liu Wenji was given the title of Linzi County Duke, and Liu Wenpeng was given the title of Taiyuan County Duke. He probably felt that it was not appropriate to only grant three sons.
It looked so good that Liu Yang also gave several of his younger brothers the title of knight.
Although the Duke of Taiyuan is obviously more important than the other two princes, it is the land of Longxing in the Han Dynasty after all, but even if it is biased, the three princes and the three princes just illustrate the hesitation of Emperor Liu Yang.
In the whole process, Liu Wenji was a little transparent. Almost no one paid attention to him or cared about him. He and his mother, Concubine Xiao Zhuang, kept a low profile as usual, not even interested in watching the excitement. In the end, he picked up a Linzi County Duke for nothing.
of title.
The tossing of the "Prince Controversy" also made Liu Yang a little tired. Less than a year after he succeeded to the throne, there were several turmoils within the imperial court, and they were not minor. It was not until he became emperor that he really realized
, how much "energy" do these dignitaries of the Han Empire have, how much they can do, and how powerful they can be when they do it?
Liu Yang just wanted to maintain a stable environment, devote his mind to governing the country, rectify some of the ills left by Emperor Shizu in a down-to-earth manner, and do practical things for the country and the people, but it was really too difficult.
After all, Liu Yang is not Emperor Shizu. Once he is unhappy, he can flip the table at any time and withstand the backlash of breaking the rules. But Liu Yang is obviously not good at it. Even if he has the power, he does not have the courage. In his bones, he is not capable of doing that.
person of behavior
Of course, in the past six months, Liu Yang's throne has become more and more stable, his authority has been gradually established with the passage of time, and further adjustments have been made to central power and personnel.
King Liu Ai of Lu was worshiped by him as Zhongshu Ling, in charge of the national government. It must be mentioned that no one has held the position of Zhongshu Ling in the entire dynasty of Emperor Shizu. In the past, Tongping Zhangshi, the Minister of Zhongshu, was
He is already the Prime Minister of the Political Affairs Hall, which shows how much Liu Yang values Liu Ai.
In fact, Liu Yan, as a representative of the royal family, takes a seat in the political affairs hall, which is a balancing measure for the foreign court. Both the original Emperor Shizu and the current Emperor Yongxi are happy with this method.
I don't expect Liu Yan to do anything outstanding or have outstanding political achievements, but as long as he occupies that position, he has already played a role.
However, today, Liu Yan suddenly came to ask for his resignation from the emperor. Liu Yang could not accept it, and he immediately suspected the reason.