Although Li Mi could understand the prince's ambition to revitalize the Tang Dynasty and wanted to take back the Hexi Corridor and Anxi, after all, he was a young man and it was expected to be ambitious.
But understanding is understanding. Li Mi's attitude is still very firm and clear. Before the issue of the separatist vassal towns in Hebei and the Central Plains is resolved, he must try to maintain stability in the west. No matter how tragic the Anxi Army is, it cannot change the national policy. Otherwise, the west will be unstable.
This seriously diverted the court's energy from resolving the eastern issue, and fighting on two fronts would eventually bring about the collapse of the Tang Dynasty's finances.
Li Mi resigned and left. Before leaving, he glanced at the poems on the table in confusion. How could the Holy Emperor know these two poems? However, he did not ask any more questions. It was probably the public opinion reported by Zuo Shiyi.
Li Shi felt mixed joy and sorrow. He was happy that the financial problem could be alleviated. If the money and grain from Bashu arrived in Chang'an, he decided to use money to reward the soldiers instead of using land. Although using land was good, his will had been issued, and he would not go back on his word again.
To affect the emperor's credibility, the Zhengshitang can formally implement the rules for rewarding military merit before implementing them.
The worry was that the imperial court was firmly opposed to regaining the Hexi Corridor. Even if an opportunity arose, the imperial court was unwilling to seize it. In this matter, Li Shi felt extremely isolated.
At this time, the eunuch Huo Xianming sent a batch of memorials, and he was appointed Privy Councilor. This position was mainly to convey the emperor's intentions to his subordinates, and mainly served as a bridge between the emperor and the prime ministers.
There were two types of imperial edicts in the Tang Dynasty. One was drafted by Zhongshu Sheng on white linen paper and was called Bai Zhao, such as the appointment of officials below the third rank, the opening of local warehouses to release grain, the construction of cities, etc., which were all within the scope of the prime minister's power and the political affairs hall.
After the edict was drafted, the emperor only had the power to approve, but not to veto, and the right to refute was in the hands of his servants.
The emperor could only make decisions on some major military and state affairs, and he could not be arbitrary. He could only issue decrees after full discussions in the early dynasty and the monarch and ministers reached a consensus. In fact, the monarch's power was greatly restricted.
Li Longji, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, founded the Jixian Hall Grand Scholarship in the late period of his reign. He directly asked the Grand Scholar to draft edicts. This kind of imperial edict was written on jute paper and was called Huang Zhao. In fact, he took back part of the power of edict drafting from the Prime Minister.
After decades of running-in and compromise, the Bai Zhao and the Huang Zhao gradually developed a clear division of labor. The Huang Zhao did not involve specific government affairs, but only issued edicts on important appointments, canonizations, amnesties, and major military affairs, while the Bai Zhao also had to
Let the emperor read it before formally drafting the decree. The contact person in the middle is the Privy Councilor. After the emperor reads the memorial, he will ask the Privy Councilor to convey his opinions. Then the Political Affairs Hall will consider the emperor's opinions when formally drafting the decree.
If the emperor is diligent in his administration, the privy councilors are indeed a good communication bridge. However, if the emperor neglects his administration or is controlled by the eunuchs, the privy councilors’ opinions will not be expressed by the emperor, but by their own opinions. This is how the eunuchs in the late Tang Dynasty came to power.
Institutional roots.
It was not until the Five Dynasties that the practice of having eunuchs serve as privy councilors was completely abolished and replaced by civilian officials. By the Song Dynasty, military generals were gradually serving as privy councilors, and their scope of duties was also biased toward the military.
When Huo Xianming saw the emperor staring at the two lines of poetry for a long time, he said softly: "Although the prime minister and court officials are unanimously opposed to the recovery of Hexi, as far as Beinu knows, the people of the world and the soldiers of the three armies strongly demand the recovery of the Hexi Corridor and Anxi."
"The people of the world and the soldiers of the three armies?"
Li Shi smiled bitterly, Datang did not rely on them to govern, so what was the use of their support?
Huo Xianming understood Li Shi's thoughts very well. He wanted to regain Hexi, but he did not have the courage to challenge the ministers, nor did he have the courage to issue an order directly. He wanted to accept his fate but was unwilling to do so, so he was worried about the gains and losses in this matter and kept hesitating.
"Actually, Your Majesty can give Guo Song a certain degree of autonomy in the use of troops. The reason is that if the general is out, you will not accept your orders! When the rice is cooked, the ministers will have no way to blame Your Majesty. They can only point the finger at Guo Song.
Let Guo Song bear the consequences."
Li Shi nodded repeatedly. This was a good idea. Let Guo Song decide whether to regain Hexi. Hexi was so far away that he could refuse without knowing anything.
"What about the army's supplies?" Li Shi thought of this important issue again.
"Your Majesty, didn't Guo Song say in the express that he captured a large number of cattle and sheep? I think no one in the court seems to care about it. Aren't these trophies his supplies? Give him 30,000 troops, and the court will only take care of the military salary, and the rest will be supplied by itself
Solution, isn’t this what the prime ministers criticize the most?
Once he solves the logistical problems by himself, the prime ministers will have no way to blame him. As for Tubo and Uighur, he will solve the troubles caused by himself, which may trigger a war between Uighur and Tubo to compete for Anxi. The Tang Dynasty's
On the contrary, Longyou and Hedong are safe."
Huo Xianming's words touched Li Shi's heart. Although it might not be a good thing to give Guo Song too much autonomy, Li Shi could tolerate it as long as he could regain the Hexi Corridor and recapture Anxi.
Li Shi walked a few steps with his hands behind his back: "What do you think, I just made him the governor of Hexi Province?"
"Your Majesty, this is necessary. If he were not the governor of Hexi Province, how could he march north after capturing Suzhou?"
Li Shi nodded slowly, saying that the Jiedushi matter could wait until we find an opportunity to talk about it.
...........
As the saying goes, some families are happy and others are sad, and while the government and the public are celebrating the victory of the Ganzhou Army, Zhu Si has fallen into the lowest ebb of his life. The connection of two decrees completely cut off his hope of returning to Longyou.
First, the imperial court issued an order to remove Wang Lian'en from the post of governor of the prefecture. Then, the emperor issued a decree to remove Zhu Si from the post of Longyou Jiedu envoy. In the evening, Zhu Si received another order from the emperor and appointed him as the governor of Jingyuan.
Jiedushi made Zhu Si feel like he had survived a desperate situation, and he wanted to fall to the ground and cry.
At night, Yuan Lu hurried to Zhu Si's mansion. Zhu Si's mansion was also a gift from the emperor. It was located in Guanglufang, covering an area of 40 acres. It was the original residence of the powerful eunuch Li Fuguo.
Zhu Si also had many questions in his mind, so he personally welcomed Yuan Lu to the guest hall.
"General, what on earth is going on?"
Zhu Si couldn't hold back the surprise in his heart and said: "You have clearly dismissed me as the military governor of Longyou, why do you appoint me as the military governor of Jingyuan again?"
"Brother Zhu is not happy?" Yuan Lu said with a smile.
"Of course I'm very happy. This is equivalent to lifting my house arrest, but I don't quite understand?"
"This is the emperor's balancing act. The Dugu family influenced the Zhengshitang, which made the Zhengshitang pass a resolution to remove Wang Lianen, and also passed a resolution to remove you, Longyou Jiedushi, but the Dugu family forgot that things can't be done
Too Jue, their overall victory made the emperor feel that the Guanlong nobles had lost their balance, so they also need to give the Yuan clan a little support, and thus you have the position of Jingyuan Jiedushi."
Only then did Zhu Si wake up from a dream. He quickly bowed and saluted, "Speaking of which, I still want to thank the Yuan family for supporting me!"
Yuan Lu smiled and waved his hand, "We are in the same boat, why should we be grateful? Since the emperor has issued the decree, Brother Zhu should take office as soon as possible."
"I know. I will go to the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Personnel to go through the formalities tomorrow. If everything goes well, I plan to leave for Yong County early the day after tomorrow to take up my post."
At this time, the maid brought them tea. Zhu Si took a sip of tea and asked: "What is Zhang Yi's background? Why did the emperor let him serve as the governor of Longyou?"
"Zhang Yi was recommended by Cui Youfu to succeed Yan Zhenqing as the new prime minister after Yan Zhenqing retired. However, Yang Yan disliked Zhang Yi very much, so he recommended Zhang Yi to the emperor to be the governor of Longyou."
"It turns out that Zhang Yi is Cui Youfu's man!"
"no!"
Yuan Lu shook his head and smiled: "Zhang Yi is the son-in-law of the Dou family. The emperor appointed him as the governor of Longyou. This actually promoted the status of the Dou family. Did you see that the emperor became more and more skilled in the art of balancing?
.”
Zhu Si nodded silently and asked: "What about Guo Song? Does the imperial court want to regain the Hexi Corridor? I heard that the imperial court does not want to regain the Hexi Corridor. Is that true?"
"Of course not!"
Yuan Lu sneered and said: "The imperial court just wants to keep the land where horses are raised in Ganzhou. It doesn't want to expand westward at all. What if it takes over the Hexi Corridor? How can the imperial court have the financial resources to fill that hole? Do you think it is the prosperous Kaiyuan era now? I am
I’ve seen it through, it’s good if the Tang Dynasty can continue to exist, but still wanting to talk about ZTE is just nonsense!”
Zhu Si felt really regretful that the imperial court had given up such a good opportunity to regain the Hexi Corridor, which was simply depressing!
"Forget it, I won't think about this kind of thing. What matters does the Yuan family have to explain to me?"
Yuan Lu took out a list and handed it to Zhu Si, "These are eight captains, all generals of the Yuan family. I hope Brother Zhu can promote them to generals."
This is how the influence of the Guanlong nobles in the army comes from. A large number of middle-level generals in the army are appointed by various Guanlong nobles.