Chapter 231: Between kings and kings, which side do you stand on?
The old Prince Wu's Mansion, in the flower hall.
After a moment of deliberation, Wei Guogong still said Li Shanchang's name.
He heard that the emperor and the Korean prince had been having a bad time in the past six months.
It is said that even when the emperor celebrated his birthday, Li Shanchang did not send any congratulations or birthday gifts.
Of course, the emperor did not tolerate him and sent an angel to Fengyang to scold Li Shanchang, calling him "indulging in favor" and "extremely disrespectful".
At this point, Li Shanchang still refused to plead guilty, acting like he was just waiting to see what he could do to me.
Zhu Yuanzhang was so angry that he cut off his annual salary by 1,800 dan, and ordered the "save two deaths" on his iron certificate to be reduced to "save one death" as punishment.
Li Shanchang then went to the court to plead guilty, saying that he was being questioned by Han Yike and felt that he was an unlucky person and was not qualified to go to the court to congratulate him and send him birthday gifts.
Zhu Yuanzhang then issued an order to comfort Lao Li, saying that if we have not convicted you, you will still be the Korean Duke of the Ming Dynasty, and you will do whatever you want in the future...
Just when the government and the opposition thought that the conflict between the emperor and the king was about to ease, unexpectedly, the South Korean government made a big move, which directly cut off the military supplies on the front line, and the Northern Expedition also came to nothing...
~~
Some people may ask, why are both Geng Bingwen and Xu Da so sure that Li Shanchang is the mastermind behind the scenes?
Is this old dog Li Shan really so foolish?
He is really so stupid.
To be precise, it was not Li Shan who died, but Zhong Shu Sheng who died.
In the former Yuan Dynasty, Zhongshu was the commander-in-chief of hundreds of officials and the prime minister of world government affairs. He was responsible for the three powers of government, military and supervision separately from the Privy Council and Yushitai.
In addition, the Yuan Dynasty also established the Xing Zhongshu Province in various provinces to take charge of local military affairs. As the dispatched agency of the Zhongshu Province, the Xing Zhongshu Province was also under the jurisdiction of the Zhongshu Province.
Therefore, the power of the Zhongshu Province was very important. The prime ministers of the Yuan Dynasty also had great power. Famous prime ministers such as Temudie'er, Tuotuo, and Yan Timur were all powerful ministers under one person and above ten thousand people.
They monopolized all government affairs and had their own army. They could influence the succession of the throne and even deposed the emperor at will.
It has been said that the Yuan Dynasty fell for a hundred years, at least half of which was due to the chaos caused by the struggle for power and fierce internal strife. The prime minister's monopolization of power and the lack of imperial power were the structural contradictions that led to internal strife...
Although this dynasty said that it was to get rid of Hu Feng and restore the Han system, the political system had its own strong inertia, so it still followed the Yuan system, with the Zhongshu Prime Minister responsible for national government affairs, governing six ministries, and managing local provinces.
The ministers of the six ministries and the governors of local provinces must report all major and minor matters to Zhongshu Sheng, who will then report them to the emperor.
After the emperor makes a decision, Zhongshu Sheng will order the implementation to the six ministries and provinces, conduct supervision and assessment, and finally report the implementation results to the emperor.
This has been the process of power operation since the founding of the Ming Dynasty. It can be clearly seen that the emperor and the central and local yamen need to be connected by the Zhongshu Province to transmit information.
The emperor had no direct contact with the six ministries, let alone the local yamen. He could only issue orders to the Zhongshu Province to manage his country indirectly.
If the Zhongshu Sheng and the emperor were united as one, just like they did before and during the founding of the People's Republic of China, the emperor would naturally not feel the inconvenience, but would be freed from tedious government affairs and devote his energy to more important policies and plans.
But once there is a problem with the Zhongshu Province, even if it is just a choice, the emperor will instantly lose control of the country, just like now...
So Zhu Yuanzhang knew that there must be something wrong with Zhongshu Province.
~~
In fact, it is much stronger now than before.
Initially, even the military was under the control of Zhongshu Province. Xu Da's most important official position was that of Prime Minister You of Zhongshu Province. The other princes also served in Zhongshu Province.
Later, Boss Zhu spent a lot of effort to transfer all military power to the Governor's Office. He also separated the generals from the Zhongshu Province system, and finally achieved the separation of military and political affairs.
But the noble generals are basically Li Shanchang's old subordinates, and the rough guys all trust Li Shanchang's brains and obey him in all matters big and small, so Lao Li still has great influence on the army.
In fact, Zhu Yuanzhang changed Du Wei into Du Si not mainly to deal with those noble generals, but to take back the military power of local provinces and then try to weaken Zhongshu Province as much as possible!
Li Shanchang saw this clearly.
Only those brainless nobles would think that the emperor was going to mess with them, but they were easily used as weapons by the Korean prince.
The so-called Kaizhong merchants are nothing more than the white gloves of Huaixi nobles.
In addition to the central government, the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty, including the current Right Prime Minister Hu Weiyong, were all promoted by Li Shanchang.
Therefore, even a blind person can see that the crux of today's predicament lies elsewhere but in the Korean public.
~~
"That's right, it's Lao Li." Zhu Yuanzhang was very satisfied with Xu Da's answer.
The reason why Boss Zhu wants to renew Xu Da's life and give him the old palace is because he is afraid that Xu Da will not stand on his side. Even if he just looks at the left and right and remains neutral, for today's emperor,
All are fatal blows.
This shows that neither the civil or military giants are on his side, and he has become completely alone.
Fortunately, Xu Da stood firmly on his side. It was not in vain for Boss Zhu to lower his posture and show his heart...
Zhu Yuanzhang happily laughed at himself and said: "We have thought about it. If you don't help us, tomorrow we will marry our daughter to Li Shanchang's son. It may be called a marriage or a marriage. In short, we will happily admit defeat and hide our capabilities and bide our time."
In a few years, we will slowly figure it out."
"I only obey the emperor's orders." Xu Da said softly but firmly.
"Okay, very good! But even if you don't help us, we will never give up." Zhu Yuanzhang raised his neck and drank a glass of strong wine, then smashed the wine cup and said:
"Sooner or later, we will behead all those thieves who dare to threaten us because they think the law does not punish the public!"
"But now that Tiande is on our side, we don't have to wait so long." Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Xu Da steadily and gave his promise:
"Next spring, we will definitely be able to make the Northern Expedition!"
"Yes." Xu Da's heart trembled. He understood that the emperor meant that he wanted to decide the outcome with Li Shanchang before the beginning of spring!
"Your Majesty, is it too late?"
"The worst case scenario is to kill them all and start from scratch again." Zhu Yuanzhang said with a grin: "We have nothing anyway, how can we be afraid of smashing all the pots and jars?!"
"Understood." Xu Da nodded heavily. He knew that Emperor Hongwu, who was willing to risk everything, could not lose.
Then he said in a deep voice: "Whatever you need me to do, I will go through fire and water without hesitation. Even if there are tens of thousands of people, I will go!"
"Okay, I will order you when I need you." Zhu Yuanzhang happily poured him wine and said: "Now, I order you to drink with us!"
"Your Majesty, I obey the order!" Xu Da really let go of his drinking capacity and did not refuse anyone who came. He drank one glass after another with the emperor, one jar after another.
Xu Da strictly prohibited alcohol in the army. After becoming a general, no one dared to drink with him. Therefore, his drinking ability was actually average.
While drinking, Xu Da found that the world was spinning in front of his eyes and his head felt three times heavy, so he knew that he was about to get drunk.
But the emperor still tried his best to persuade him to drink, and Xu Da could only risk his life to accompany the gentleman. In the end, he was too drunk and fell unconscious...
