Li Chengqian felt frightened. If Fang Jun's suggestion was approved by the ministers, wouldn't he, the emperor, be about to be emptied out?
Although he cannot control any army now, after all, in name, the affairs of every army must be decided by him as the emperor. Anyone who serves as the commander-in-chief of the army needs his approval. This is a demonstration of power.
But if a new yamen is really added to take charge of the national army, then there will be an official in charge of the new yamen between the emperor and the army. The emperor's orders cannot be issued directly, and the generals cannot go up to heaven to listen. If things go on like this, what will happen? Wasn't it easy to be dismissed?
At that time, if someone wanted to abolish the establishment of the government, he only needed to win over the chief official of the new yamen, and it would be easy...
In the eyes of Li Ji, Liu Ji, Ma Zhou and others, purely from a business perspective, this suggestion was extremely appropriate.
To be able to serve as the chief officer of such a yamen must be a figure recognized by both the military and the government. Such a figure must also be a generation of commanders with great military exploits and outstanding military strategies. Such a figure is responsible for the communication bridge between the emperor and the army. It can avoid to the greatest extent the possibility of the emperor being foolish and ruining his life and the country.
For example, if the current Emperor, His Majesty, decides military and national affairs with just one word, who can rest assured?
On the contrary, no one is worried about the issue of evading imperial power. The Tang Dynasty has been established for a long time, and the upper and lower classes have been stable. It does not mean that whoever has military power can seek to usurp the throne. Being the chief official of this new yamen does not mean that he has military power. Controlled by hand, up and down, there are still many internal and external checks and balances.
And if anyone wants to abolish the establishment, there is no need to seize the country's military power, as long as he can control the left and right Jinwu guards and the left and right leading guards...
Separating the military from its own system and reporting directly to the emperor is the most perfect system at the moment. The separation of military and political affairs can completely eliminate the formation of local warlords and make the entire army as unified as an arm.
However, not everyone will uphold fairness when speaking or doing things. When in court, they are tossed between various forces and interests, and sometimes their positions are not so firm...
Liu Ji immediately refuted: "It is unconventional and hidden. The Yue Duke's suggestions are just an attempt to seize the military power of the empire. When the power is overwhelming and the country is isolated from the outside world, who can rule it?"
Li Chengqian looked gloomy and said nothing.
He didn't believe that Fang Jun was as desperate as Liu Jie said in order to gain power. Looking at the court, there were only one and a half people who could live up to the words "indifferent to fame and fortune". One was Fang Jun and the other half was Li Ji. .
There is absolutely no problem with loyalty.
But once this proposal is passed, the imperial power will be greatly reduced, which is something he, the emperor, is unwilling to accept.
What is an emperor?
The Nine Provinces and Eight Wastelands are the lords of the world!
He can accept his orders and be advised by his ministers, but he absolutely does not want his power to issue orders to be restricted!
In fact, the emperor's power has been limited since the founding of the country.
The greatest power of Zhongshu Sheng is to "refute edicts". The emperor's holy will is prepared and issued by Menxia Sheng. It needs to be reviewed by Zhongshu Sheng. Once Zhongshu Sheng deems it inappropriate, it can legally revoke the emperor's will.
The imperial edict was dismissed.
Of course, the emperor can also skip the Zhongshu Province and issue imperial edicts directly to various agencies and ministers. However, "How can it be regarded as an edict without Fengge Luantai?" The imperial edict is neither legal nor compliant, and will only harm the emperor.
majesty.
Political orders are restricted by the Zhongshu Province, and now military orders are also restricted by the newly established yamen. Then doesn't he, the emperor, really become a "puppet"?
In the past, he hated Liu Jie's style of "I will oppose whenever my opponent agrees", but now he feels that it is very considerate because Liu Jie said everything he wanted to say, thus avoiding conflicts between himself and Fang Jun due to disagreements.
Possible suspicions...
Fang Junqi asked: "What about isolating China and the outside world, what about monopolizing power... Is Zhongshu Ling an auditory hallucination? When did I say that I took on this new position?"
Liu Ji was stunned: "...Who do you want to recommend to such a critical yamen?"
There are only a handful of people who can hold such a key position, and there is probably only one Cui Dunli among Fang Jun.
You can't carry Li Jing out, right?
Fang Jun said: "I recommend Mr. Ying to take up this position."
Liu Ji was startled and looked at Li Ji.
Li Chengqian's heart skipped a beat, and his first reaction was: Could it be that these two people are secretly connected?
Up to now, the two largest camps in the Tang Dynasty military are Li Ji and Fang Jun. The former represents the interests of most Zhenguan nobles and is the representative of the old school in the army, while the latter is the banner of all the younger generation.
Honorable men and nobles protest in different courts.
Because the relationship between the two cannot be reconciled, two major factions are formed. One is calm and steady, the other is enterprising, the other is shrinking domestically to protect interests, and the other is flamboyant and exposed to benefit from the outside world.
While opposing and resisting each other, they also formed a balance in the army, allowing Li Chengqian to turn around and stabilize his throne.
But once these two major factions eliminate their differences for some reason and merge into one, he, the emperor, will have a restless night's sleep...
Li Ji was also taken aback, and immediately realized the hidden danger, and hurriedly said: "I suffered many wounds in the battle in my early years. In the past two years, I have suffered frequent injuries and have been in great pain. It is already reluctant to take the post of Zuopushe, the minister, so I don't have the energy to worry about it."
Such a crucial position? Even if this yamen can be expanded, Your Majesty, please choose another talented person, because it is not enough for a weak official to show his strength."
He didn't know whether Fang Jun was really upright and upright, and did not avoid "enemies" when promoting talents, or whether he said this deliberately to arouse His Majesty's suspicion. In short, he was unwilling to take over such a hot potato.
Ma Zhou, who spoke little, suddenly interjected: "If the government and the public can pass through such a yamen, I wonder if the Duke of Yue has a secret manuscript and what is its name?"
Fang Jun said with a smile: "How about 'Privy Council'? 'The chief of the Privy Council is the Privy Envoy'."
Ma Zhou thought for a while, nodded and said: "It has the majesty of the center of the country, and it is also easy to understand the meaning of fame. Not bad."
It means that he has agreed to this proposal, not only the proposal to add a "Privy Council", but also the proposal to recommend Li Ji as the "Privy Envoy".
Li Chengqian's expression remained as usual, but in fact he was dissatisfied.
Li Xiaogong, who still didn't speak much, sighed inwardly and said: "It is easy to add an additional yamen, but if you want to tie the national army under it, it is extremely troublesome to formulate various systems and regulations. It can only be done in a day or a month. To overcome the problem, extensive discussion and brainstorming are needed to ensure that everything is foolproof."
Li Chengqian didn't dare to wait any longer, and then Li Xiaogong spoke and echoed: "Uncle Wang's words are quite reasonable. Whether you approve or reject such a big matter, you should carefully consider it and consider it repeatedly."
There are obviously many people who support this matter, so it would be inappropriate to categorically reject it, so we can only put it aside for the time being.
But although Li Ji took the initiative to refuse to help, he may not have no idea about this "Privy Envoy" in his heart. If he and Fang Jun just hit it off, he, the emperor, would have no choice but to admit it...
Sure enough, Fang Jun looked at Li Ji and asked with a smile: "I have no selfish intentions in making this suggestion. The British should know the dangers of the military's maladministration. Only in this way can we avoid the troubles caused by the collusion between the local military and the government and the subsequent warlord separatism..." I wonder what Mr. Ying thinks?"
Throughout the ages, no one who has been able to reach the national level is a fool. When faced with bad government, most of them can see through its essence, but precisely because they see through its nature, some bad policies are harmful to the country but beneficial to themselves, so they let it go. , some are aware of the harm but unable to do anything about it.
How could a generation of famous generals like Li Ji, who had grown up in the military and prospered and destroyed countless countries, not be able to see clearly the pros and cons of the "mansion army system"?
But maybe it was in their own interests, or maybe they were powerless, so they were unable to reverse the situation, causing the shortcomings to continue for a long time. Eventually, after a few decades, local military-political collusion was gradually allowed, and warlords were gradually born one after another.
Now Fang Jun is waiting for Li Ji's choice. From his choice, we can see that he really cares about his family and country, or is selfish.
Li Ji thought for a moment, looked at Fang Jun for a moment, looked at Li Chengqian, and said solemnly: "We believe that the hidden dangers raised by the Duke of Yue are extremely serious and cannot be ignored, and military reform is imperative. However, as stated in the Zhongshu Order, It also makes sense. The success or failure of hasty reforms is unpredictable, and may even have a series of negative effects, so we should be cautious about this. It may be possible to temporarily add a department within the Ministry of War to study and formulate military reforms, jointly organized by several ministers of the Military Aircraft Department Cui Dunli, Secretary of the Ministry of War, is jointly responsible. When all systems, policies, and regulations are perfected as much as possible, appropriate opportunities will be selected to promote the entire army."
He could understand the wait-and-see, doubt, and even provocation in Fang Jun's last sentence, but the reason why he made the decision to agree with Fang Jun was not to prove to anyone that he was a "fair and selfless" person, but that he did agree with Fang Jun. Jun's opinion.
The "Mansion Army System" was applied in the Western Wei Dynasty. However, whether it was Yu Wentai who incorporated rural soldiers and recruited powerful people into the six pillar states to form a new army system, or Yu Wenhu reorganized the rural soldiers and established the Twenty-fourth Army, or whether Yu Wenyong further expanded the government troops and completely institutionalized the "Fu Army System", all for the purpose of better controlling the army and avoiding the constraints of others that would cause the army to become "fragmented." This resulted in the "Fu Army System" having a strong military strength. , also possesses the power of "counterattack".
Whether it is Yu Wentai, Yu Wenhu, or even Yu Wenyong, it can be said that success is a "mansion soldier" and failure is a "mansion soldier".
The stronger the scattered military force is, the harder it is to control it. Once it gets out of control, the world will be in chaos and war will be everywhere.
If we want to avoid or even put an end to the painful lessons of the Western Wei, Northern Zhou and even the former Sui Dynasty, we must reform the "government army system".
This is a mighty trend. Li Ji himself may not have the courage to promote this matter, but since Fang Jun has taken the initiative, Li Ji must follow the trend instead of ignoring or even fiercely opposing it because of certain emotions. .