Chastity Layman 2

Chapter 1456 Balance
Older gingers are more spicy.

Qin Gui's heart is like a mirror for the current situation of Datang.

"What Da Lang just said is very good. What is an eunuch? It's just a dog of the emperor, but this dog is raised by the emperor. It depends on the owner to beat the dog. You can't beat the dog to death just because it is very fierce. .”

The Tang Dynasty has gone through six emperors, and the current pattern has four pillars.

The military meritorious groups that have continued since the founding of the People's Republic of China, the largest of which is the Wagang Group.Then the second largest force is the scholar-civilian group that came out of the imperial examination. After decades of imperial examinations, the class influence of this scholar-civilian group is also very strong, spreading inside and outside the court.

The third pillar is the relative group.

And this group generally refers to the Qin family now. In the early years, Yang Wei, Xiao Zheng Wang and others were also very powerful, especially the Hongnong Yang family and Jingzhao Wei's marriage with the Huangtang Li family from generation to generation, forming a close in-law relationship. The eldest grandson, the Gao family, etc. were also very strong, but in the end they were no match for the Qin family.

The Qin family, the leader of the military group, has survived previous power struggles and supported them for several dynasties, which has established their incomparable special status. Since the ancestors, the ancestors Gaozong Zhongzong and the current Emperor Tianbao, the four empresses have all It's Qin's daughter.

Even the young crown prince Li Yan, who has not yet been crowned, has already appointed the granddaughter of the secretary and young supervisor Qin Xiaogong as the crown prince.

The fourth pillar is the eunuch group.

Among these four pillars, the power of eunuchs is very special. During the period of Gaozu Shengzu, they had no influence in the political situation of the Tang Dynasty, and even their grades were only fourth rank.

However, when the ancestor Li Yin was in power, especially after purging the elder faction dominated by Changsun Wuji and the Guanlong Group, Li Yin began to reuse eunuchs, and used these domestic slaves to systematically establish the internal court system. Establish a new balance of power, especially through eunuchs intervening in the army, to reduce the power of military meritorious groups.

Although there was a brief reversal afterwards, the power of eunuchs was further enhanced during the reign of Tianhou and Zhongzong, because both Tianhou and Zhongzong needed to use eunuchs to balance the other major forces and stabilize the imperial power.

In the final analysis, eunuchs are actually just an extension of imperial power.

It was the helper the emperor asked for.

In a clear sense, the prime ministers of the eastern and western prefectures, as well as Jixiang, Neixiang, Yushi doctor, etc. are of course the emperor's courtiers, but the officials of the outer court headed by the two prefects do not completely obey the emperor's orders. After the ancestors, although the Zaizhi divided power, the power they jointly exercised was still faintly suppressing the imperial power.

Zaizhi ruled on behalf of the emperor.

If the emperor wants to control the government, weaken the governor, and control the army, it is best to use the most trusted eunuchs who are the servants of the emperor.

Therefore, the power of eunuchs has increased unprecedentedly, involving various aspects.

The root cause of the emperor's trust in eunuchs is that eunuchs have no lifeblood and no sons. They must be attached to the imperial power and have no will of their own.

Although there are eunuch families in the palace, this kind of family cannot be detached from the eunuch system, let alone from the control of the imperial power.

The envoy of the Xuanhui Academy regained control of the power to approve reds, and the lieutenants of the guard army became the emperor's most trusted supervisors.

In addition to assisting the emperor in handling government affairs, the Xuanhui Academy's biggest duty or function is actually to upload and distribute, especially the function of uploading.

The central government of the imperial court handles state affairs by relying mainly on memorials.

The affairs reports of the local Daozhou counties and the various departments of the central government are required to have one original and one copy.Among them, the copy was sent directly to Xuanhuiyuan. The fundamental purpose of this was to allow the emperor to ensure the smooth flow of information channels through the eunuchs of Xuanhuiyuan.

Although it is a concept that the emperor’s export is an edict, which is recognized by the public, in fact, in the Tang Dynasty, the emperor’s edict must also be drafted by the Zhongshu Sheren or the Imperial Academy, and passed through the Zhongshu sect. Only then can it be ordered.

The imperial decree issued without going through Zhongshumen was regarded as obliquely sealed ink imperial edict by the government and the public.

Even if the power of drafting the internal system is shared by the Hanlin Academy, the internal system of their draft edicts also has strict scope restrictions, and even in the end they also have to be signed by the sect of Zhongshu.

Military and state affairs, the two governments negotiated and obtained the order face to face.

Zhongshu makes orders, audits under the door, and those who are not up to the mark, in Zhongshu, they will be rejected by others, and under the door, they will be sealed and refuted in the affairs. Take it.

These are about decisions.

But information is the basis of decision-making, and the process of decision-making is the process of gathering and analyzing information.

The emperor lives in the deep palace, and if he wants to make the right decision, he must first ensure that he has sufficient and comprehensive information, otherwise he will make a huge difference.

The emperor set up the Xuanhui Academy, not because he was lazy and didn't want to review the memorials and hand them over to the eunuchs for handling.One of the most important responsibilities of the Xuanhui Academy is actually to collect information and make sure that the emperor will not be blocked by news or block his eyes and ears.

After the copies of all the memorials are sent to Xuanhui Yuan, Xuanhui Yuan will have a professional team of eunuchs to process these memorials.

Register and file, and then organize and classify.

According to the content of the memorials, all the memorials were classified into categories, and even prioritized, etc., and finally sorted out and reported to the Xuanhui envoy, who then reported the important ones to the emperor.

In this way, some small and miscellaneous things are filtered out, avoiding wasting energy, and important matters can be dealt with first.

Of course, the imperial court’s six ministries, nine temples, three provinces, and two government offices are themselves level-by-level institutions for filtering, sorting, and disposing of various information, officials’ notes, and notebooks. Waiting for sorting and processing.

In the end, they gathered in the political affairs hall, where the prime ministers discussed and came up with a preliminary solution plan, which was usually proposed by pasting yellow tickets, and then reported to the emperor.

Xuanhuiyuan and Zhengshitang seem to have overlapping functions, but in fact this is the most important step in ensuring the emperor's power.

If there is no such step, then although the emperor is the lord of the world, the information he can see and hear has already been filtered or even deleted and edited by the prime ministers. This is very dangerous for the emperor of.

Through the eunuch team of Xuanhuiyuan, the emperor established his own information processing organization to ensure the comprehensiveness and authenticity of the information, and even senior eunuchs such as Xuanhui envoys provided suggestions on how to deal with them as decision-making staff.When the two governments reported the corresponding affairs, the emperor had already prepared for it, and the response was more calm, and he would not even be concealed.

But Xuanhuiyuan's right to approve reds, etc. are actually not as important as the previous one.

The lieutenant of the Beiya Guard Army and the military supervisor of the border town Jiedu are both direct manifestations of the emperor's attempt to strengthen his control over the military power of the army.

After all, the emperors of the Tang Dynasty after Li Shimin were far inferior in terms of knowledge, ability, and even prestige. They had to use this kind of team operation to ensure their power.

Qin Gui had already seen through the logic of this.

Knowing the source of eunuchs' power, that's why he wouldn't shout like Qin Lun to kill the eggless eunuchs.

You can kill a certain eunuch who acts arrogantly and illegally, but you can’t go after all the eunuchs, because these people were created by the emperor or not even a certain emperor, but the current Tang Dynasty royal family, and they are lackeys needed by the entire imperial power.

Whoever dares to attack the entire eunuch system is doing the emperor and the entire Li family of the Tang Dynasty.

This is quite a stupid behavior. Although the Qin family is the biggest relative in the court and the leader of the military group, they can't do this kind of thing.

Up to now, the intersection of the emperor, the royal family, the imperial court, civil and military forces, eunuchs, and foreign relatives has long been very complicated. Now with the support of the four major branches, the imperial court has reached a new balance.

The emperor at least felt a sense of security, but now that the eunuch group is being mobilized, the emperor may feel that the imperial power is under a huge threat.

"Although the eunuchs are somewhat arrogant and domineering, they can't go far. Can they still override the imperial power? The two governors in the court, even the military meritorious groups, bureaucrats and scholars, are so easy to override? We It's not necessary for the Qin family to be such an early bird."

"There are some individuals who are too arrogant. We can directly kill and maim them, but don't think about attacking all eunuchs."

Qin Lun opened his mouth in surprise.

At the age of 50, his life is smooth sailing. He is a student of Chongxian Hall, a Jinshi of the imperial examination, a secretary of the provincial school, a government official, a county magistrate of Chang'an, a supervisory censor, a servant in the palace, a prince official, and a Zhongshu general. Ren, Zhongshu Sheren, Shanzhou Governor, Anxi Jiedu Envoy Sima, Anxi Dao Observation Envoy, Minister of the Ministry of War, Zhongshu Shilang Tong Zhongshu Menxia Sanpin, Privy Deputy Envoy Shen Zhizhengshi...

The official career is smooth, and every step is just right.

Because it was too smooth, the views on some things were indeed inferior to those of Qin Gui and Qin Xiaozhong. They both guarded the Western Regions for a long time, and they were indeed different from Qin Lun, who held each position for a short time.

"Then forget it?" Qin Lun asked after a long time.

Qin Gui chuckled and didn't answer.

"Uncle 21, think about why there were no eunuchs in the Gaozu dynasty and the Shengzu dynasty? Why did the ancestors use eunuchs?"

To put it bluntly, it is because the military power group is too powerful, and it is because the power of the prime minister is too strong.

Even though the prime minister's power has been split several times, the eastern and western mansions plus the imperial court and the inner court are still the outer dynasty. After they united, the emperor still couldn't control it.

That's why the emperor needs eunuchs to take power, and needs to use eunuchs to establish a huge and comprehensive internal court system, even a military supervision system, all in order to balance power and strengthen imperial power.

After understanding this starting point, it will be very clear when we look at the current situation.

"Or, think about the post-Han Dynasty in history."

Qin Lun was not satisfied with this answer, "The eunuch's dictatorship in the Later Han Dynasty even abolished the emperor. Wasn't the death of the Later Han caused by the eunuch's dictatorship? Is my Tang still going down this road?"

"The demise of the Later Han Dynasty was not entirely caused by eunuchs interfering in politics. In other words, if there were no important eunuchs in the Later Han Dynasty to strengthen the imperial power, the Later Han Dynasty might perish earlier. Of course, although the Later Han Dynasty reused eunuchs and used eunuchs to strengthen the imperial power, the final demise of the Later Han Dynasty , the dictatorship of eunuchs is also a major cause of death.”

Qin Lun was silent.

Today's Tang Dynasty is really walking on the old road to the Han Dynasty, with eunuchs monopolizing power, foreign relatives intervening in politics, and then the gentry and powerful came together.

"In fact, there is no need to worry too much. Everything has two sides."

Eunuchs can not only strengthen the imperial power, but also endanger the imperial power. Just like the powerful relatives of the Qin family, they made several plans to support them and protect the peace of the Tang Dynasty. However, the huge power of the Qin family also potentially threatened the imperial power.Another example is that the imperial court has implemented the enfeoffment system for decades, which has not only reduced the direct threat of the clan and heroes to the imperial court, but these vassal princes in the frontier are slowly becoming new hidden dangers.

The border town of Thirteenth Festival guards the frontiers of the Tang Dynasty, but it also has the danger of strong branches and weak branches.

How to maintain a balance of power is very important.

As long as the balance is not broken, and a certain force does not cross the boundary, then everything will be fine.

Eunuch monopoly?

Qin Gui smiled with a teacup in his hand, saying that it is too early to say that the eunuchs of the Tang Dynasty have monopolized power, they are really just a group of guard dogs raised by the Tang royal family, not even the vicious dogs, because although these eunuchs are in the On the thirteenth day, border towns have sent supervisors, and the Beiya armies have also sent guard lieutenants, but they still have little influence over the military power, let alone control.

For the time being, it is only a supervisory existence.

As long as the eunuchs can't directly touch the military power for a day, the eunuchs will always be a group of watchdogs who are vicious on the outside but not threatening.

Similarly, although the eunuchs of Xuanhuiyuan have the right to approve awards, this right to approve awards is different from the military and state decision-making power of Zhongshumen and the Privy Council. They only have the right to approve on behalf of the emperor.

It is still the governors of the two prefectures who make decisions about civil and military affairs.

From a certain point of view, relatives and eunuchs are two major forces that the emperor trusts and relies on, and they even look like natural allies.

Of course, with the current status of the Qin family, there's no need to mess with the eunuchs, but there's no need to yell at the eunuchs either.

Let someone else watch it.

There are really eunuchs who have gone too far, and they can be mercilessly picked out and killed, but they can't do anything to the entire eunuch group.

Qin Lun felt very frustrated.

"Today is such a festive day, let's talk about something else. Talking about those eggless guys is really off-putting." Qin Gui said with a smile.

Qin Lun, the birthday boy, has nothing to talk about.

Originally, he was prepared to engage in the dictatorship of the eunuchs, and even planned to overthrow the eunuchs, abolish the inner court departments, dismiss the lieutenant of the guard army, and the eunuchs of the border guard army, which can be regarded as his prime minister. a political achievement.

But now that his uncle and nephew said so, he also realized that he had made a big mistake before.

"An Guogong Guo Daifeng recently published a book, saying that the previous big rebellion in Xichang, Tubo, Subi, and Xiangtong had extremely bad effects, and it was also the barbarians on these plateaus who failed the emperor's gift. He proposed to put Su Pi, Tubo, and Zhangxiong, the three vassal states on the high plateau, all directly converted their land and brought them into the Xichang Road. His Xichang Town soldiers are ready to send troops to eradicate all those rebellious officials and thieves who dare to rebel against the court! "

Guo Daifeng is the son of Guo Xiaoke. Back then, Guo Xiaoke and his eldest son were killed in battle in the Western Regions. Many courts wanted to investigate Guo Xiaoke’s crime of humiliating the country by losing his teacher. In the end, Qin Lang, who entered the court, preserved his posthumous name and advocated posthumously .

Afterwards, he asked Guo Daifeng and his brother to follow Qin Jun to join the army in the Western Regions for revenge.

Previously, there were large-scale rebellions in Tibet, Xichang and other places. Qin Yandao, the Jiedu envoy of Dianyue Dao, led his troops to the north to quell the rebellion. Afterwards, Guo Daifeng was transferred from the deputy envoy of Anxi Jiedu to Xichang.

Not long after he took office, he rectified the troops and wiped out the remnants of the rebellion. He was in a hurry, and now he directly proposed to convert the entire plateau area into the Xichang Road and under the Jiedushi of Xichang Town. .

Qin Gui held the teacup, "Brothers Guo Daifeng and Guo Daipin fought for their love and joined the army to march west. I was deeply impressed by the fighting. Originally, these two brothers studied literature back then, and Guo Daifeng returned to the middle school." Those who have passed the Juren and are preparing to take the Jinshi examination."

"Guo Daifeng is a ruthless person. The Guo family brothers have always remembered the kindness that Sanlang showed to their family back then. Since he wants to use troops against the three kingdoms on the plateau, it is not a big problem. He has this ability. Besides, after the last rebellion , I think the conditions for reforming the land and returning to the natives are considered mature, and those tribal barbarians on the plateau are just white-eyed wolves who are not familiar with raising them, so there is no need to keep them forever."

Qin Xiaozhong lowered his head and thought for a while.

"Is it appropriate to use troops on the plateau now? I just experienced the Jiangnan Rebellion, and this year is the first year of the new emperor's succession?"

"What's the matter, fight when you need to. The new emperor has just succeeded to the throne. If the three kingdoms on the plateau are pacified, isn't this also a gift to the new emperor?"

Qin Lijian and Qin Jingsi, two cousins, expressed their willingness to go to Xichang to support Guo Daifeng.

"Let's take it out for a discussion between the two governments tomorrow."

(End of this chapter)