After hearing this, Ximen Sheng immediately felt a flash of vigilance in his heart.
He was not a fool and had already vaguely discovered Zhao Junchen's intention.
But in the end, Ximen Sheng still said slowly: "Please give me some advice from Minister Zhao."
Seeing Ximen Sheng's response, Zhao Junchen nodded with satisfaction.
This is what Zhao Junchen "appreciates" most about Ximen Sheng. This person seems to be firm and tough, and he has the right temperament when facing weak people. But in fact, he does not have many positions and pursuits of his own, which are caused by external factors.
A driven person will always subconsciously look for a stronger and more determined person to be his backbone.
In the past, He Yu was Ximen Sheng's backbone, but from now on... Zhao Junchen didn't have much confidence that he could replace He Yu and become Ximen Sheng's backbone.
After all, even if a character like Ximen Sheng has extremely obvious character flaws, it is not easy to completely overcome them.
Zhao Junchen is of course more powerful and determined than Ximen Sheng. If Zhao Junchen has time to stay in Liaodong for a long time and continue to brainwash and influence Ximen Sheng, he is quite confident that he can make Ximen Sheng completely surrender to him and obey him.
It is a pity that Zhao Junchen will leave Liaodong soon, and there will not be many opportunities to contact Ximen Sheng in the future. Therefore, if he wants to replace He Yu and become Ximen Sheng's backbone, although it cannot be said that there is no chance, it is true.
Not much chance.
Therefore, in Zhao Junchen's mind, Ximen Sheng is just a transitional candidate for the commander-in-chief of Liaodong Town.
But at this moment, with the murder of He Yu, Ximen Sheng has lost his former backbone, and because of Zhao Junchen's secret support, he has a great chance to take over the position of commander-in-chief of Liaodong Town, so Zhao Junchen has temporarily become
The person who has the greatest influence on Ximen Sheng.
Ximen Sheng's views on Zhao Junchen are also extremely complex, with both gratitude and suspicion, a desire to get close, and secret wariness... But no matter what, Ximen Sheng can't help but seriously consider Zhao Junchen's opinion.
*
While Zhao Junchen refilled a cup of tea for Ximen Sheng again, he said unhurriedly: "Actually, it's normal for General Ximen Sheng not to clear his mind yet and not understand his future direction.
, after all, you have only found out in the past few days that you have the opportunity to take over the position of commander-in-chief. Naturally, it is impossible to think everything through, but...
Among the nine border towns in our country, Liaodong Town has the strongest strength and the heaviest border defense tasks. In the future, with the gradual implementation of Liao’s pay reform, many great changes are about to happen, so after you take over the position of commander-in-chief,
We must not rush around like headless flies, otherwise the situation in Liaodong will never be stable, and it will fall into endless internal friction and chaos, which will not be of any benefit to anyone."
After hearing the words, Ximen Sheng nodded in agreement, but he looked at Zhao Junchen with more and more guarded eyes, thinking that after Zhao Junchen had foreshadowed these words, he should take the opportunity to instill certain ideas into himself and provide him with guidance.
The "right" direction.
Ximen Sheng believes that he must carefully screen and screen next, and must not let Zhao Junchen mislead his thinking easily.
After noticing Ximen Sheng's caution, Zhao Junchen couldn't help but smile and suddenly asked: "Does General Ximen think that after I talk about this, I will instill certain ideas in you and point out the future for you?"
Direction, taking the opportunity to guide your thoughts and decisions, so you can't help but be on guard?
Haha, there is no need to be so suspicious, I am not the kind of cunning person who plays with people's hearts and plots against others all the time... In fact, my advice to you does not contain any personal information, it only has four words.
——Stay stable!"
"Stay stable? What do you mean?" Ximen Sheng was stunned for a moment and then asked in confusion.
Zhao Junchen seemed to be careless and sincere, and continued to smile: "I do not intend to instill any ideas in you, nor do I want to guide you in the future. How do you want to control Liaodong Town in the future, and how do you want to lead Liaodong?
This pavilion is not prepared to interfere with the direction of the town. Although you have not yet sorted out your thoughts and found the direction, you are not a stupid person. I believe that sooner or later you will clarify your thoughts and find the direction. At that time, what will you do?
How you do things is up to you!
But I hope that before you clarify your thoughts and find a direction, you must not act blindly. Do not do anything that you are not sure of, nor do you want to conflict with others and establish political enemies. Everything is to maintain the stability of the situation first. As long as the situation in Liaodong
Once you are stabilized, you will be able to secure your position as commander-in-chief, and then you will have more time to think and observe, slowly clarify your thoughts, and find directions. Sooner or later, you will be able to realize your ambitions, and there is no need to rush!
The so-called "stabilize and wait for a decision" means very simple, that is, give priority to stabilizing the situation in Liaodong, stabilize your own power and position, wait patiently for yourself to clarify your thoughts and find the direction, and then make a decision! Although I also hope that Ximen
The general's future ideas will be in line with mine, but as I said just now, I will not interfere with your ideas, everything is up to you."
After a pause, a trace of sarcasm flashed across Zhao Junchen's expression: "It's easy for people in the world to fall into a misunderstanding. Horses have four legs, and sheep also have four legs, so horses are sheep; I need to do something to prove myself, and now
There happens to be such a thing right in front of me, so I have to do it... I hope that Ximen Ginseng will never let you fall into such misunderstandings!"
After hearing this, Ximen Sheng couldn't help being stunned again.
He never expected that Zhao Junchen just put forward such a moderate and stable suggestion, and did not take the opportunity to instill any ideas into him, nor did he intend to take the opportunity to guide his own thinking.
But after thinking about it carefully, Ximen Sheng had to admit that Zhao Junchen's suggestion was indeed harmless and could even be regarded as his best response in the future. It could be said to be sincere.
Therefore, after Ximen Sheng pondered for a long time, he finally nodded and agreed: "What Cabinet Minister Zhao said is reasonable. I will definitely keep in mind the teachings of Cabinet Minister, wait and see for sure, and never act blindly!"
After hearing this, Zhao Junchen secretly came up with a plan in his heart.
*
The strategy of "maintaining stability and waiting for decisions" suggested by Zhao Junchen seems to be moderate and ordinary. It is all for Ximen Sheng's consideration and does not seem to contain any private goods. However, in fact, Ximen Sheng was still guided by Zhao Junchen without knowing it.
The direction of thinking.
As long as Ximen Sheng is willing to act according to the plan, Zhao Junchen's layout and vision for Liaodong Town will be completely formed.
You must know that after the Liaodong town's salary reform is gradually implemented, the Liaodong town generals will lose most of their financial power, and the generals and local guards will no longer have to rely on the Liaodong town generals to allocate food and supplies to them.
Autonomous powers are greatly enhanced.
But at the beginning, the powerful position of the Liaodong Town General Soldier would not decline quickly.
On the one hand, this is because He Yu's remaining power still exists, and the various generals and guards have long been accustomed to obeying the orders of the Liaodong Town Commander-in-Chief and cannot easily make up their minds to fight against the next Liaodong Town Commander-in-Chief. On the other hand, it is also because
Ximen Sheng was originally the most prestigious, deep-rooted, and most powerful senior general in Liaodong Town. After he successfully took over as the commander-in-chief of Liaodong Town, he was still able to easily suppress the vast majority of opposition.
Therefore, if Ximen Sheng takes over as the commander-in-chief of Liaodong Town, he quickly creates troubles, suppresses dissidents, tries his best to establish prestige for himself, and strengthens his power by any means, then even if the Liaoning salary reform is successfully implemented, it will be a long time in the future.
Internally, the commander-in-chief of Liaodong Town will still say the same thing and be the only one who respects himself.
Although Ximen Sheng has character flaws and always subconsciously wants to find a backbone for himself, he still has a tough and aggressive attitude when facing weak people, and the other generals in Liaodong Town will obviously not be attracted by him.
Therefore, without Zhao Junchen's secret interference, Ximen Sheng could easily maintain the authority of the Liaodong Town Commander-in-Chief.
It was out of such considerations that Zhao Junchen made such a suggestion to Ximen Sheng to "maintain stability and wait for a decision."
This suggestion seems safe, but after Ximen Sheng follows the plan, he will not suppress dissidents at will, nor will he create various troubles without authorization. Instead, he will actively seek the opinions of others in order to stabilize the situation.
But Li Zehe, Gan Cheng, Xu He and others are not law-abiding people. They can even be said to be mean-spirited. If Ximen Sheng had quickly struck them and forced them to do things when he took office, they would definitely be in awe.
They dare not disobey military orders easily, but if they find that after Ximen Sheng took over, he not only did not beat them to establish prestige, but did nothing, and often consulted them, their awe will quickly dissipate, and their courage will disappear.
It will become bigger and bigger, and soon I will dare to compete with Ximen Sheng!
In this way, Liaodong Town will gradually become a co-governance structure of all high-level military attachés, which is also the situation that Zhao Junchen hopes to see most.
Although Zhao Junchen often secretly ridiculed the shortcomings of the so-called "separation of powers and co-governance" in his heart, and once used this trick to completely break up the unity of Liaodong Town, in fact Zhao Junchen did not understand the political system of "separation of powers and co-governance".
Without any bias.
Everything in this world always has advantages and disadvantages. The so-called "taking the essence and discarding the dross" is actually just an unrealistic fantasy. Many things are self-contained, and the advantages and disadvantages also go hand in hand. It is impossible
To take advantage of the advantages while avoiding the disadvantages, we can only try to maximize the strengths and avoid the weaknesses. Different systems are only suitable or not, and there is no distinction between high and low.
The disadvantage of "decentralization and co-governance" is that it is easier for external forces to find a way to divide and rule, and administrative efficiency will be slower. However, the advantage is that everyone can express their opinions and find their own spokesperson, and when making decisions,
It will also be more comprehensive and dare not explicitly "grasp the big and let go of the small";
Correspondingly, totalitarianism also has inherent advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is that decision-making efficiency is faster, and it is easier to mobilize one's own strength and tap full potential. However, the disadvantage is that all the power of administrators comes from
Higher-level powers, so they will only be loyal and accountable to higher-level powers.
In Zhao Junchen's mind, the future Liaodong Town will be more suitable for decentralization and co-governance. Once this pattern is formed, if any force in Liaodong Town still wants to gain an advantage, they can only go to the imperial court.
The central government is looking for a backer, and Zhao Junchen, who holds financial power, is undoubtedly one of the best choices.
But no matter what, the central government's control over Liaodong Town will inevitably increase rapidly, and Liaodong Town will no longer be able to be as strong as before and have its own troops and self-respect.
At the same time, as long as the central court formulates a series of frameworks for Liaodong Town in advance, all parties in Liaodong Town can be firmly restrained. No one will be able to break through the framework without authorization and make their own decisions, and the future situation in Liaodong will be completely stable.
Consolidated.
*
All kinds of thoughts just flashed through Zhao Junchen's mind.
On the surface, Zhao Junchen just smiled and nodded, saying: "Since Ximen Ginseng is willing to adopt my suggestions, I can safely explain some things to you."