The first thousand four hundred and sixty chapters
In the early years, Li Xuan changed the ministers on duty in the Imperial Study Room quite frequently, basically one person every year. However, in recent years, this situation has changed.
There have been no changes in the number of ministers on duty in the Royal Study Room in the past three years.
For the Tang Empire, this represented political stability and was a good thing.
But for many people who want to rise to the top, this is not a good thing.
Now that Ma Wei died of illness, he finally had the opportunity, but it was snatched away by Zhou Yiran and Dai Yugang. I don’t know when the next minister on duty in the Royal Study will be vacant.
Maybe one year, two years or even three years.
However, even if it is only one or two years, many important ministers cannot wait, because officials have terms of office, and they must be transferred after holding a position for three years. At the same time, officials also have an age at which they can become official, and the age of senior officials
It is generally too large, because it takes many years to climb up from the middle and lower levels.
With the combination of the two, basically many minister-level officials have worked for three to five years and still haven't had the chance to become the minister on duty in the imperial study room, then what awaits them is the official career!
But even if they are disappointed, there is nothing they can do. If it is a position at the level of governor, minister or even minister, they can fight for one or two, because although these officials are also arbitrary, there are so many positions at this level.
It is impossible to stare at the personnel files every day and then look for suitable candidates. The Ministry of Personnel often proposes all qualified people, and then the Imperial Study Room will also put forward some reference opinions. Li Xuan often makes selections based on these reference opinions.
Several suitable people, and finally choose one from these people.
However, the selection of the ministers on duty in the Royal Study Room has always been the arbitrary decision of the Holy Emperor. He can use whomever he likes. Even the important ministers in the Imperial Study Room do not have the slightest power to make suggestions. Who dares to make suggestions, even just hints?
These actions were a great challenge to the emperor's authority. Li Xuan would definitely kill the chicken to show the monkey.
After all, the minister on duty in the Imperial Study Room is too important. To put it bluntly, Li Xuan now rules the Tang Empire by controlling the Imperial Study Room. Otherwise, he will be exhausted and unable to manage many institutions.
You have to know that in the Tang Dynasty, many institutions were directly managed by the emperor.
In terms of military affairs, there are ministries under the Privy Council of the Army, ministries under the Naval High Command, Joint Operations Department, and divisions of the Guards.
There are nearly twenty organizations of various military organizations directly responsible to the emperor.
In terms of civil affairs, there are various ministries, and then there are independent departments, bureaus and other institutions, totaling more than twenty.
Next, there are various departments and departments of the Hanlin Academy, among which the more important ones include the Secretariat, the Survey and Statistics Department of the Hanlin Academy, the Royal Assets Department of the Hanlin Academy, the Personnel Department of the Hanlin Academy, the Military Affairs Department of the Hanlin Academy, etc.
In addition, there are independent institutions such as the Inspectorate, the Grand Court, the Zongfu Office, the Royal Institute of Technology, etc.
Taken together, there are more than sixty organizations directly responsible to Li Xuan.
With so many organizations, how could Li Xuan manage them all personally? This is simply impossible!
But Li Xuan was unwilling to set up positions such as prime minister, prime minister, army commander, navy commander and related institutions. He was not willing to play retro and find himself a prime minister, prime minister, etc. If he had nothing to do, he would not be causing trouble for himself, or even cause trouble.
The imperial power has fallen by the wayside.
Therefore, he insisted on personally managing many of the above-mentioned institutions, but he could not manage them alone.
That’s why the imperial study room system was established.
Each of the ministers on duty in the imperial study assisted Li Xuan in handling one or more aspects of affairs. At the same time, Li Xuan greatly restricted the authority of the ministers in the imperial study.
This allowed Li Xuan to personally control many institutions and establish absolute imperial authority.
In fact, to a certain extent, it is very similar to the cabinet system of later generations. Those ministers on duty are cabinet ministers, and Li Xuan himself is said to be the emperor, but he is more like a cabinet prime minister.
Under this system, the selection of ministers on duty is very important. If anyone wants to interfere with the personnel power of the imperial study, Li Xuan will have his family confiscated and his family exterminated.
The Holy Emperor prefers to choose a minister on duty between Dai Yugang and Zhou Yiran. Although others may have opinions, they will never dare to express them.
Of course, there are also some opportunists. Seeing that these two people are about to rise to the top, before the final decision is made, they quickly find two people to build a relationship.
Why rush to burn incense before it is finalized?
No need to ask why?
Before what the person wants is determined, if everything is determined, will it be useful for you to go over and build relationships? You might not even be able to meet in person.
Furthermore, it doesn’t matter even if you place it on the wrong dock or burn the wrong incense.
During this period, there were many important ministers who wanted to compete for the position of minister on duty, but the Holy Emperor only saw Dai Yugang and Zhou Yiran, which shows that these two people are candidates in the eyes of the Holy Emperor, and both are the ones that Jian has in the emperor's heart.
kind.
Therefore, even if they do not enter the royal study room, the losers will not be unlucky and can maintain their current position no matter what happens.
After all, this is different from ordinary officialdom struggles. In ordinary officialdom struggles, losers are generally unlucky, and there are many who are devalued or even forced to take up official positions.
But this time, the Holy Emperor personally selected the person, which was very different from the ordinary officialdom struggle.
When Li Xuan summoned Dai Yugang and Zhou Yiran one after another, he did not expect that in just two or three days, the news would spread all over the city, because he had heard the news in the harem.
Of course, no one in Li Xuan's harem dares to participate in politics. Even Queen Dong Yunyun has never participated in politics in the past 20 years. It is very satisfying to be a royal palace in the harem now.
Her only son and the only legitimate prince of the Tang Empire has been officially established as the prince. In recent years, the prince's position in the East Palace has become more and more stable, and he has gradually begun to participate in politics.
Her son's position is secure, and she is devoting all her attention to being the hostess.
She has a large number of concubines under her control. Many of these concubines are favored by Li Xuan, but in front of her, they are still like little sheep, serving her like a maid.
That feeling, not to mention how great it is!
However, even Dong Yunyun never participated in court politics, and other concubines did not have the courage. Those who dared to participate in politics were basically killed with a cane!
But there are still exceptions in this harem, and this exception is Li Xuan’s mother!
Queen Mother Bai!
There is no way, there is a tradition for Empress Dowager Bai to participate in politics. During the Huangzhushan period, she fought fiercely through her uncle Bai Yunqi, Liu Bagou and others, and she was once in charge of all the money revenue and expenditure of the Tang Empire.
In those days, even buying a piece of salt had to be approved by Queen Mother Bai!
Later, during the Unification War, Li Xuan often led the army to fight outside. Who was the person sitting in the rear and supporting the overall situation?
Of course it was Queen Mother Bai.
During the Unification War, Empress Dowager Bai often sat in the rear to guard against any officials with evil intentions who wanted to seize her old Li family's property and overthrow her son's rule.
However, since the Northern Expedition ended and Li Xuan returned to the court, Queen Mother Bai gradually withdrew from the front desk. After the Unification War, she basically did not participate in political affairs.
Of course, I still said a few words occasionally.
This time too, when Queen Mother Bai saw Li Xuan, she just casually asked a few questions about Dai Yugang and Zhou Yiran. However, she was also a smart person, so naturally she would not get involved, but reminded Li Xuan of this matter.
, don’t put it off for too long, it will have bad effects if you put it off for too long.
Queen Mother Bai's worries are not unreasonable. It has been almost half a month since Ma Wei's illness began. It has been half a month, and a minister on duty has not been selected yet. This is naturally not the case.
Just let there be a lot of noise outside.
If Li Xuan had immediately promoted someone to replace Ma Wei and enter the Imperial Study Room when Ma Wei just died, then there would not have been any trouble.
Over the years, Li Xuan has changed many ministers on duty in the Imperial Study Room, but this is the first time that such a big fuss has occurred.
After being reminded by Empress Dowager Bai, Li Xuan also knew that he could not drag it out any longer and must make a quick decision to avoid any accidents.
The next day, Li Xuan formally issued an order at the Xiaochao meeting to transfer Zhou Yiran, the governor of Guangdong, to return to Beijing and serve as Minister of Rites. At the same time, he recruited Zhou Yiran to be on duty in the imperial study!
After the imperial edict was issued, it was finally confirmed. Zhou Yiran was naturally very happy about this, but Dai Yugang on the side was like a deflated rubber ball, with colorless eyes.
Although Zhou Yiran was also appointed as a minister, Dai Yugang was originally a minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and both had the same rank.
But in fact, the difference is huge. This does not mean that which department has more power and which department has less power. What is really important is the sentence at the end that recruits Zhou Yiran to go on duty in the imperial study.
What they are fighting for is not the position of minister, but the minister on duty in the imperial study room!
There are only nine positions for ministers on duty in the imperial study room, and Li Xuan does not plan to add more people. He decided to take the position this week, and Dai Yugang naturally has no chance.
However, Li Xuan also valued Dai Yugang. Although he could not give the title of minister on duty, he could still be a walking minister. Therefore, he then issued an order to allow Dai Yugang to walk in the imperial study.
But even so, Dai Yugang could not hide the frustration on his face. Although the minister on duty and the minister on duty were both in the imperial study room, the gap was huge.
After settling this matter, it also announced that the controversy over the candidates for the royal study room caused by Ma Wei's death from illness has finally come to an end!
However, the subsequent impact of this incident remained the same. Because Zhou Yiran was transferred back to Gyeonggi, the position of governor of Guangdong became vacant, and this position was naturally targeted by many people.
This is really a wave of ups and downs!
After a friendly but heated debate among a group of ministers on duty in the Imperial Study Room, they submitted a list of more than twenty candidates to Li Xuan.
Li Xuan selected a person from this list, and also selected a candidate from another list of candidates submitted by the Personnel Department of the Hanlin Academy.
One of the two people listed as final candidates is Chen Lifu!