Chapter 289 Its hard to be the prime minister of Han Dynasty
Liu Chengyou's first palace meeting after returning to the court lasted for nearly three hours. Even lunch was prepared by Liu Chengyou and the ministers made do with it. In addition to summarizing the Northern Expedition and discussing the aftermath, There are also some important military and political matters during Liu Chengyou's departure from Beijing, plus the following national policies and strategic directions of the Han Dynasty...
Liu Chengyou had already considered these things. In fact, there was not much to dispute, but it was just a matter of "kill the troops, stop fighting, and recuperate." After such a war, the Han Dynasty could never withstand a more intense war. It’s been a toss up.
Fortunately, the emperor had a clear understanding of this. Liu Chengyou expressed his views on the outline of the agreement, and then the civil and military officials expanded the discussion and expressed their opinions.
After the discussion was over, the courtiers dispersed in twos and threes. The military generals held their heads high and the civil servants were relieved. Only Fan Zhi and Xue Juzheng, the two powerful men in the political hall, looked slightly depressed.
Among the ministers, Tao Gu seemed to have the most relaxed attitude, but when he glanced at Fan Zhi, there was a sense of schadenfreude in his old eyes. Speaking of which, Tao Gu took refuge in Liu Chengyou relatively early, especially in the early days of Liu Chengyou, who had many talents under his command. When there is a shortage, he will serve as a member of the dormitory.
Tao Gu is absolutely smart and has good literary talent, but he is too smart, which sometimes makes Liu Chengyou unhappy. In his early years, because Liu Chengxun was named the King of Wei and the Prefect of Kaifeng, there were a few Half-hearted. Later, there were cases of accepting bribes. When he went to Jiangnan as an envoy, he acted in his true colors and made a great contribution, but it also left behind the allusion of "sleeping alone in a lonely house", which is still laughed at. During the pacification of Huainan, he shared a lot of burdens for Liu Chengyou If you don't do many things, you'll start to bend the law for personal gain...
It can be said that Tao Gu is not comparable to Xian, but he does have some talents. In addition, Liu Chengyou remembered some affection from his early years and used him smoothly, so he has been placed as a high-ranking official in the central government. .
As for Tao Gu himself, when he was at the height of his power, he was once close to becoming the prime minister. It was not like Liu Chengyou had never thought of supporting him, but he finally gave up on him because of his actions.
That is to say, during the years when he was placed in the Xuanwei Department as deputy envoy, Tao Gu restrained himself and did not dare to speak nonsense. In those years, Zhao Shanggao was placed above his head, and Zhao Shanggao's son was still a close minister who was trusted by the emperor. , so Tao Gu was quite depressed.
It was not until Zhao Shangjiao was implicated in the corruption case involving two students in Hunan that he was demoted and sent away. Tao Gu finally came forward and was reminded of Liu Chengyou again and was appointed as the Minister of Rites.
In the past two years since his re-emergence, Tao Gu has been very self-disciplined, or rather cautious, and he still has some thoughts about aspects. This time, Liu Chengyou asked him to be responsible for public sacrifices, which was another opportunity for him to show off his talents. Opportunity.
In his mind, he is already planning the specific regulations of the ceremony. He is already familiar with the ceremony and there will be no problems. What is worth thinking about is what the emperor's intention and purpose are. This is the most important thing. In terms of "reading the emperor's mind", there were few people in the entire dynasty who had more experience than Tao Gu.
Of course, what made him happy was the dark cloud that gradually shrouded the political hall. Tao Gu's political sense was extremely keen, and he was completely aware of the emperor's aloof attitude towards Prime Minister Fan Zhi.
Combining some previous news and Fan Zhi's historical behavior, Tao Gu had a premonition that the emperor's tolerance for Fan Zhi, who was becoming more and more powerful, was about to come to an end, and that the Han Dynasty was likely to undergo another major change.
Just now, he was participating in political discussions and listening to the holy teachings in the Chongzheng Hall, but Tao Gu's mind was completely focused on this aspect. For Tao Gu, he saw an opportunity. Just like when Zhao Shanggiao was overthrown, With Zhao Pu's vigilance and investigation, and Tao Gu's efforts behind the scenes, he originally thought of driving away Zhao Shuangjiao, and the official position of Xuan Comfort Envoy was his, but he never thought that the emperor would directly promote him to the position of Minister of Rites.
Over the years, Liu Chengyou has spent a lot of energy on reshaping the issue of his official position not being worthy of its name. So far, except for the independent financial power in the three departments, the power of other ministries has been consolidated. This is Liu Chengyou's official position. One of the results of the reform.
As far as Tao Gu is concerned, the current situation is the same. If Fan Zhi and others are allowed to keep occupying positions, how will they have a chance to rise to the top? Tao Gu has already seen clearly that Fan Zhi is a stubborn and stubborn person, and he is somewhat acknowledging death. He often fought against others for the sake of so-called morality, and even the emperor refused to give him face. Sometimes he disagreed with the emperor's ideas and made him angry.
Even under such circumstances, Tao Gu was surprised that the emperor could tolerate him for so many years after being fooled by the prime minister for ten years. Considering how Li Tao resigned as prime minister in the first place, and thinking about the rumors some time ago, and the fact that Fang Cai Palace Due to the emperor's attitude, Tao Gu believed that it was Tao Gu's turn.
Of course, even if Fan Zhi is dismissed as prime minister, it may not be his turn to be Tao Gu. However, Tao Gu does not think so. In his opinion, the current Han Dynasty court is more qualified than Tao Gu in terms of qualifications and abilities. Yeah, I'm afraid I can't find anyone else.
If the Prime Minister is not good enough, the Second Prime Minister and the Emperor can always think of him. In fact, people like Wei Renpu, Fan Zhi, Xue Juzheng and others have always been regarded by Tao Gu as their juniors. No matter how hard it is, there is no way to avoid jealousy.
In these years, Tao Gu also suffered a lot from Fan Zhi, so when he noticed that Fan Zhi's phase was unstable, he naturally took pleasure in his misfortune.
However, enjoying the misfortune of others will not be of much benefit to oneself after all. What is more worthy of Tao Gu's thinking is how to please the emperor. In this regard, after many years of observation and summary, Tao Gu also has some insights.
That is, compared to those ministers who always like to teach the emperor what to do and what they think should be done, Liu Chengyou prefers those who obey his will and execute his orders faithfully and efficiently. He likes to combine his own will with his will , people who are embodied in governing the country will not last long.
In other words, although the emperor has been promoting talents and employing people on their merits, he needs a group of capable executors rather than a group of thinkers. In this imperial country, perhaps one brain is enough.
In the early years, there were Yang Bin and Wang Zhang, who were typical examples of imposing their will on the emperor and the country. Therefore, a "rebellion case" is still going on in Jingzhou. Wang Zhang retired quickly, but he also died of depression.
Later, Feng Dao was an old fox who was extremely oily. His position was the most stable and his life was the most nourishing. If it hadn't been for the fact that he was old and not feeling well, he would have been able to work for a few more years.
From Li Tao to today's Fan Zhi, the fundamental problem is still the same. His personal thoughts are too strong and he is unwilling to be completely suppressed by the imperial power. His performance in governing the country has sometimes rebounded.
There are many smart people among the prime ministers, such as Wei Renpu. Although the emperor often treats each other as a teacher, he never regards himself as the emperor's teacher. Instead, he talks a lot about governing the country and teaches Liu Chengyou what to do. He just tries his best. He checked for leaks and filled up gaps, clarified doubts and doubts, and at the same time worked conscientiously and fulfilled his duties. After doing these things, Wei Renpu's position in the court became more and more stable.
Tao Gu was smart enough to figure this out, and he felt that he was qualified and capable to stay in phase. It has been almost thirteen years, and he can basically be said to be the first civil servant to seek refuge with Liu Chengyou. Mr. Conglong has been around for so long For many years, there was no official case for him in the main office of the political hall. Tao Gu felt a heavy burden on his heart, and he almost suffered from a heart attack.
In his view, if one can worship the Prime Minister before the age of sixty, one will have no regrets in this life.
With his shrewd eyes and keen sense of smell, Tao Gu was able to detect changes in the political situation. As a person involved, Fan Zhi also had deep feelings in this regard. The emperor's smiling eyes and gentle tone were all Let him die with a heavy heart.
Xue Juzheng and Fan Zhi walked together. The two may have a good personal relationship, but they are more close on matters of right and wrong.
Seeing the heaviness on his face at this time, he couldn't help but call out: "Brother Fan, Your Majesty, he..."
After coming back to his senses, Fan Zhi couldn't help but sigh, but he didn't show any more emotions and said calmly: "It's better to do what His Majesty ordered first!"