On the third day after Guan Long's army took control of Luoyang, the imperial court began to operate again. Li Ye ordered that all the more than one million guan captured from the Shence Army's military salary be used to pay the salaries of hundreds of officials, and all the salaries owed to the officials were paid off.
An extra month's salary will be given as compensation.
For a time, the civil and military officials in the court were erupting in joy. This was a major matter related to everyone's vital interests. Even if they looked down upon Li Ye, they had actually received the salary that had been owed for several months, and had an extra month of salary.
These officials who looked down on Li Ye had to shut up.
At the same time, Empress Dowager Zhang issued several decrees to expel Li Fuguo, Yu Chaoen, Cheng Yuanzhen and other thirty-two eunuchs from all their positions and titles, and severely punish them in accordance with the laws of the Tang Dynasty.
He conferred the title of King of Qi Li Ye as General of the Supervisory State, and in accordance with the proposal of the Supervisory State, he abolished the two-phase system established by Li Fuguo and re-implemented the new political hall system.
The political affairs hall was full of people. Except for Li Mi who was in Chang'an and the privy councilor Duan Xiushi who was still in Jiangnan, the other seven ministers were all present. Even Li Xian had just returned from Jiangnan West Road to report on his duties, so he was invited into the political affairs hall.
Zhang Li announced the appointment of Li Ye, the Supervisor of the State. Li Dai was appointed as the right minister, Zhongshu Ling, and Zhang Li was appointed as the left minister's servant. The seven assistant ministers include Li Mi, the official secretary, Liu Yan, the household secretary, Wei Jiansu, the minister of the rites, and Wei Jiansu, the military official.
Dugu Lie, the Minister of Justice, Pei Zunqing, the Minister of Punishment, Li Xian, the Minister of Works, and Duan Xiushi, the Privy Councilor.
Then there are Yan Zhenqing, the imperial censor, and Cui Huan, the admonishing official. Although they are not assistant ministers, they are qualified to participate in the political affairs hall.
Zhang Li also announced a series of reform measures, including the establishment of a plan to add seven assistant prime ministers to the left and right, with the left prime minister fully responsible for the White Tiger Hall, and the entry and exit of all memorials must be graded, standardized and reviewed for compliance by the White Tiger Hall.
Each ministry has its left and right ministers, which not only retains the officials of the imperial court, but also respects the chief officials of the Qi Palace.
At this stage, this is actually a balancing measure. Although there are pros and cons, the biggest benefit is to enable the two imperial courts to integrate and stabilize as soon as possible.
The hall fell silent, and Li Ye delivered his first policy speech.
"Dear Prime Ministers, the eunuchs have been eliminated, the country has been renewed, and the new Tang Dynasty has begun to operate. I have the honor to serve as the superintendent of the country. I would like to briefly say a few words to you here. When I was in the Prince of Qi's Mansion, I often led the army on expeditions. Sometimes I would go there.
It took several months or even half a year, but even if I was away, the Prince of Qi's Mansion and Guanlong's various places were still operating normally. The key to why this could be achieved lies in institutional norms.
In my opinion, the imperial court is like a palace. Some officials are beams, some are columns, some are tiles, and some are foundations. There are still people responsible for maintenance and repairs, removing decay, updating parts, and there are also people who are always vigilant to prevent
fire.
If a king has to make beams and pillars, take care of the eaves and trusses, and even the tiles, he will stretch his hands too far and take away the power of the ministers. In the end, he will do everything.
He can't do anything well, and even enjoys behind closed doors. The ministers are at a loss as the power is in his hands.
I don't agree with such a king. If a wise king comes out, the world will be lucky. If a faint king comes out, it will be a misfortune for the people of the world. Therefore, our sages formulated the system of three provinces and six ministries. Its essence is the separation of powers between the king and the ministers, collective consultation, and division of labor.
cooperation"
Li Ye's speech won warm applause from the officials of the Zhengshitang. This was Li Ye's attitude. He wanted to decentralize power and increase the power of the prime minister. Of course, the prime ministers supported it.
Li Ye waved his hand, and everyone became quiet again. Li Ye continued: "Establishing decentralization is not just words. To give an example, there is a big disaster in a certain place and it is required to allocate relief money and food. Who should be in charge of this matter? Logically speaking, it is the Ministry of Household Affairs.
However, there was a lot of money and food, which required the prime minister's approval, and the army had to be used to maintain order. The Privy Council also had to intervene. Corruption in the money and food for disaster relief caused public resentment to boil. The Yushitai handed over the impeachment letter to the emperor, and even the emperor wanted to do it.
Interference, what do you think we should do?
So in order to solve this problem, a temporary disaster relief office will be established, with people from all departments participating, which is equivalent to a joint review of the three departments. But the question is who will decide to set up the temporary disaster relief office, and who will make the judgment?"
Li Ye smiled at Liu Yan and said: "Liu Fuxiang, please tell me about the decision-making process for the relief of the locust plague in Qingzhou last year."
Liu Yan stood up, nodded to everyone, and said with a smile: "Last year, a locust plague broke out in Baima County, Qingzhou, which affected Baima, Huachi, Panjiao, Anhua, and Anding counties. Several local horse bandits took the opportunity to plunder the people. The Qingzhou governor urgently reported to
The Prince of Qi asked for help.
When the memorial arrived at Prince Qi's Mansion, it first entered the White Tiger Hall. The White Tiger Hall directly designated it as orange level and sent it to the desk of Prime Minister Li Mi.
Li Mi applied to the King of Qi for a quota of two thousand troops, immediately convened the cabinet, and established the Gyeongju Emergency Response Office that day.
Because of the approval of the King of Qi, the Privy Council urgently mobilized two thousand troops to Gyeongju to attack the horse bandits and maintain order. The Prime Minister also approved the emergency relief of 10,000 guan of money and 2,000 dan of grain on the same day.
Then the temporary government office rushed to Gyeongju to investigate the disaster situation and formulated a rescue plan. It can be implemented after the cabinet approves it. The whole process is very smooth. The most important thing here is the classification of Baekhodang. There is no need to go through the approval of the lower officials in turn, shirk each other, and delay
Time, and then we have a complete disaster relief process and system, so we will do it according to the system."
"Excuse me, Prime Minister Liu, what if the White Tiger Hall officials were graded wrong?" Dugu Lie raised his hand and asked.
Liu Yan smiled slightly and said: "Grading is not something you take for granted. There must be a basis. We have a grading card and a dossier. For ordinary things, we look at the grading card. If it is special, we look at the dossier and refer to similar things in the past.
Level, and then there is a special review. If it doesn't work, ask the waiter for instructions.
We have set up Baihutang for three years without making any mistakes. Facts have proved that it can indeed perform its duties and operate efficiently!"
Wei Jiansu nodded, "This White Tiger Hall seems to be somewhat similar to the Provincial Taiwan Hall. It is specially designed to accept memorials from various memorial halls."
Liu Yan smiled slightly and said: "Wei Fuxiang is right. Baihutang is indeed inspired by the provincial and Taiwanese stations, but has also been improved. The provincial and Taiwanese stations are only divided into departments, but the Baihutang is not only divided into departments, but also divided into levels. Which are the departments?
Approvals, which ones are approved by the Prime Minister and which ones are approved by the King of Qi, later on, an orange level for urgent matters was established. Finally, the White Tiger Hall has to conduct a compliance review before it is issued. In the future, the White Tiger Hall will be responsible for connecting with the Jinzou Academy.
"
Li Ye said to everyone again: "Everyone, I just used the White Tiger Hall as an example to illustrate the importance of the system. Just like I said about a big hall, everyone must perform their duties, so that the hall can stand tall and not fall down for thousands of years.
Then I will talk about the military and political affairs. Military and political affairs are not the same thing as the political affairs. The political affairs are convened by the right minister. The military and political affairs are equivalent to the small court meeting. They are initiated by the supervising country to discuss major military and state affairs. All ministers and above are ministers.
To participate.
For example, if Dugu Fu is also the Minister of the Ministry of War, then behind you will sit the Minister of War and the Minister of War. When conducting military and state affairs, Dugu Fu will discuss with his subordinates at any time and listen to everyone's suggestions before expressing opinions on behalf of the Ministry of War.
Do you understand? The Assistant Prime Minister is actually the representative of the Six Ministries and the Privy Council, and is the Minister with real power."
Everyone nodded silently. I had said this to everyone in advance in a separate conversation. It was indeed a big reform. In the past, power was transferred horizontally, and each country took turns to hold the executive office and take turns to be the prime minister.
Now that the executive pen has been abolished, power is distributed vertically, increasing the power of the right prime minister, and also increasing the power of the assistant ministers, reducing the power of the minister, and also reducing the power of the emperor, making power more concentrated in the political hall.
Effectively prevent eunuchs from having exclusive power.
In the past, the emperor had too much control and had to do everything personally. Once the energy was insufficient, he would hand it over to the eunuchs for approval. This is where the eunuchs' exclusive power came from.
No longer. The emperor is only responsible for major military and political affairs and the appointment and dismissal of prime ministers. Other matters are left to the political hall. The left prime minister is responsible for supervision. It is not the supervision of the content, but the supervision of the compliance system.
Li Ye took the initiative to limit his power. On the one hand, he wanted the support of the civil service group, but more importantly, it was also for the long-term peace and stability of future generations.
The first major decision made by the Zhengshitang was to move the capital back to Chang'an.
