Prime Minister

Chapter 1134: Fooling the government is a technical job

Chapter 1134: Fooling the government is a technical job

After the meeting in the palace, Zhang Yue, Wang Gui and Cai Que rested in the side hall.

The eunuch served tea.

Wang Gui held a cup of tea and jokingly asked Zhang Yue, "I wonder if Your Majesty has summoned the wise men again so that I can recommend someone to Your Majesty individually?"

The newly appointed Vice Minister Cai Que turned his head away to avoid being involved in the struggle between the two prime ministers. Perhaps they were also using the conversation to criticize themselves.

However, Cai Que also knew that Wang Gui had great dissatisfaction with Zhang Yue's repeated summons by the emperor for private talks.

Zhang Yue smiled and said, "History Office, Duke Shu stayed behind many times to explain the new law to Your Majesty, and I am no different now."

Wang Gui laughed and said, "When Li Wenjing (Li Hang) was the prime minister, he never stayed behind to make comments. When Shi Zhen was asked about this, Li Wenjing said frankly, 'I am ready to be the prime minister, and I will speak openly about public affairs. Those who secretly make comments are either slanderers or flatterers.'"

Zhang Yue snorted and laughed, "Since the historian is a veteran of three dynasties, how could he not know that Han Weigong, the border minister during the Qingli period, and Fan Wenzhenggong were recalled to the central government, but were never allowed to make individual reports."

"It was Lord Ouyang who proposed to Your Majesty that Lords Fan and Han are familiar with border affairs, and confidential matters cannot be discussed in public, so please stay and make your comments. It is common for emperors to only summon one or two people to discuss. This is a precedent, so why should the Historian be concerned about it?"

Wang Gui said, "But I remember that the Emperor Ren Miao also said that I don't want to keep him in the palace, for fear of opening the way for slander."

As Wang Gui and Zhang Yue continued talking, Cai Que also knew what was going on.

This is also a warning to myself.

The right to stay and make comments was generally limited to the prime minister and the privy councilor. If the vice-chancellor and the deputy privy councilor wanted to stay, they had to seek the prime minister's consent in advance.

At the same time, the officials in charge of the imperial lectures also had the qualifications to stay.

One advantage of staying in person to report on matters is that there are no officials around to record the daily life. This also makes it convenient for the emperor and his ministers to talk privately without being seen or heard.

Since Zhang Yue took office as the Prime Minister of Jixian, he has been summoned by the emperor many times, which reflects the emperor's trust in Zhang Yue.

Wang Gui was quite dissatisfied with Zhang Yue's frequent stays alone, and this was a consistent phenomenon.

Now Cai Que has been promoted to the ruling position and has the qualification to stay and make comments, but the two prime ministers also made it clear in advance that if you, Cai Que, dare to ask to stay and make comments, the two of us will deal with you together.

Soon Shi De stepped out and said, "Your Majesty, please come in together with the three of you."

Upon hearing this, Cai Que's expression relaxed.

Today, Zhang Yue, Wang Gui, and Cai Que all stayed, which was called "staying in class" because the entire Zhongshu team stayed.

In this way, there is no need to worry about gossiping about each other in front of officials behind each other's backs.

The emperor said to the three ministers, "Just now I did not want to mention the Xixia invasion in the palace, so as to avoid misinformation outside. Now I will let the three of you stay and discuss this matter."

"Western Xia once again raised troops from Xingzhou with great momentum, and some foreign officials were discussing it, believing that China would never have peace."

What the official meant was that there were too many people outside and the conversation was chaotic just now.

Regarding the use of troops, you should just make the decision, and don’t tell anyone else. After hearing what the emperor said, the three of them felt warm in their hearts.

Wang Gui asked, "I wonder what your Majesty thinks?"

The official said, "Please speak."

The emperor was also very dissatisfied with Wang Gui's silence. This was the reason why he asked Zhang Yue to stay and discuss things with him instead of Wang Gui.

Just as he frequently sought to keep Wang Anshi in the past, the other party could speak out his insightful opinions without any scruples.

However, the emperor also knew that it was not good to keep asking Zhang Yue to stay, so he arranged for Wang Gui and Cai Que to stay at the same time today to avoid mutual suspicion among the prime ministers.

But the emperor remembered that during the reign of Emperor Renzong, the other party had never opposed the appointment of the previous emperor as the crown prince, and he also thought that the other party was a sincere person.

When Zhang Yue saw that Wang Gui and Cai Que were present, he became very cautious.

Other matters are easy to deal with, but if there is any mistake in military affairs, it will easily cause a heavy blow to himself if it is spread by Wang Gui and Cai Que.

He became prime minister because of his military achievements, and he may have risen and fallen because of this.

Zhang Yue considered his words carefully and said, "The Dangxiang people who left Xingzhou are most likely heading to Lanzhou or Tiandu Mountain."

Zhang Yue still tried to say as much as possible, but he couldn't be too specific. Cai Que was ten times more powerful and shrewd than Yuan Jiang, and there was no telling how his words would be interpreted by him.

The last time he expressed his intention to fight a protracted war with Western Xia in Lanzhou, Tiandu Mountain and Pingxia City in front of the emperor, Shen Kuo was impeached by the censor, who said that he was wasting money and food on repairs on Jingyuan Road but did not make any progress.

The impeachment of Shen Kuo was directed at me, but they just didn't dare to do anything to me.

……

Therefore, from then on, he tried to use vague and ambiguous words in his public speeches.

Don't think that officials don't have much to say, because this is the result of years of experience and lessons learned from being cheated. If he trusts you, you can be very eloquent in private conversations.

Wang Gui did not understand border affairs, after all, he was the one who ruled the country. Although Cai did have some insights, he was not as good as Zhang Yue in terms of border affairs and state governance.

The three secretaries chatted for a while, but the emperor felt that they were not satisfied, so he ordered Zhang Yue to stay alone and make a response again.

After these words were spoken, Wang Gui and Cai Que both left in embarrassment.

Wang Gui and Cai Que must have felt in their hearts that Zhang Yue deliberately did not tell the truth when they were present, and only spoke the truth when they were discussing privately, in order to consolidate his favor.

But as God is witnessing, when Zhang Yue made private reports, he basically never said anything bad about anyone, nor did he make any demands on behalf of his followers.

This is not his intentional act of being a gentleman. Confucianism teaches you the principles of long-term and short-term benefits.

Talking bad about people behind their backs is extremely cost-effective. Once discovered, you will be hated by others.

……

The emperor said to Zhang Yue, "If the Tanguts invade again, the whole country will be mobilized. Not only will Liang Yimei send troops to Xingzhou, but Liang Yongneng will also send troops to Hengshan. You should speak to me frankly."

Zhang Yue said, "Your Majesty, I have already said so, and there is a Privy Council in Huanzhou."

What Zhang Yue meant was that Your Majesty should stop meddling in matters of minor matters.

The official said, "Han Zhen and Li Xian don't get along. They have impeached each other many times. How can they work together to fight the enemy?"

Han Zhen is a man with a strong desire for power. He has tried many times to interfere in the affairs of the Xihe Road Administration Office. However, Li Xian is the emperor's confidant, so how could he listen to your orders?

The two sides impeached each other and flattered each other in front of the emperor.

Zhang Yue smiled in his heart and said, "Your Majesty, if you have ever been an official, you will know that 70% to 80% of your energy is spent on fighting with colleagues, and only 20% to 30% of your energy is spent on doing things."

The official looked slightly embarrassed when he heard this. This situation was caused by Zhang Yue just to please him.

"Your Majesty, the original intention of establishing the Xihe Road Administration Office was to prevent the Privy Council from being the only powerful body, and to ensure mutual supervision."

The emperor was somewhat relieved, but he was still very worried and asked, "Then don't I need to do anything?"

Zhang Yue asked, "Your Majesty, have all the rewards from the last battle of Lanzhou been distributed?"

The official said, "The decree was issued in February."

Zhang Yue asked again: "Have all the money and materials from the Qinfeng Road Transportation Department been allocated?"

The official said, "The decree will be issued in January."

The emperor was stunned for a moment and then asked, "Weren't these two matters requested by you? Why are you asking me?"

Zhang Yue said: "As your majesty said, these two things will be done, and the rest will be handed over to Li Xian, Wang Hou, and Li Hao."

The official was stunned for a while. He was very impatient and felt that something needed to be done.

"Is it enough to just give out the rewards and provide enough money and food?" the official asked worriedly.

Zhang Yue asked in a consultative manner: "Your Majesty is worried, why don't you allocate another 100,000 strings of cash from the inner treasury to Li Xian to reward his soldiers?"

The official nodded immediately.

The emperor was extremely stingy with himself, his food and clothing were simple, and his harem expenses were also very frugal. For example, Zhu, who gave birth to his children, was just named Zhaorong. It was not that he did not favor her, but he was afraid of spending money.

However, the government was not stingy when it came to expanding borders, and would often allocate large amounts of money with a stroke of the pen.

Zhang Yue stood up and said, "The soldiers on the front line will surely appreciate your majesty's wisdom."

After saying this, Zhang Yue was about to take his leave. The official was stunned and thought, Zhang Yue still didn't tell him anything useful, and he just left like that?

The emperor held Zhang Yue and said, "You must also let me know what's going on."

Zhang Yue almost spread his hands when he heard this.

Zhang Yue thought that the reason why they could not defeat Xixia during the Qingli period and were dominated by Li Yuanhao was because of insufficient financial resources, material resources and military strength. In the third year of Xining, Han Jiang arrived at the local area and saw that the soldiers only wore paper armor and did not have enough food. The Han army had no fighting power, so they could only use the foreign army.

After the Xining Reform, the court had sufficient material and financial resources, and Shaanxi had well-trained soldiers and sufficient food. Then, the army was governed by the generals and soldiers, and Lu Huiqing also implemented the strategy of combining the Han and the Tibetans. The Western Army was indeed a completely different place.

The current situation is very different from that of the past. As long as you don't launch radical strategies such as the Five-Way Attack on Xia and the construction of Yongle City, you can wear down Western Xia.

The emperor and Wang Anshi have basically done what needs to be done. Now we just have to use resources to destroy you Dangxiang step by step.

In the post-Wang Anshi era, what Zhang Yue really tried to do was to resolve the burden on the people caused by the radical policies brought about by the reform.

Try your best to make Sima Guang and others shut up, so as to avoid difficulties in the future attack on Xia.

In the end, a situation similar to the Yuanyou Reform was created.

Lu Huiqing is the smartest in this regard.

In history, when Emperor Shenzong died, Lü Huiqing saw that the situation in the court was not right and seemed to want to abolish the reform. At that time, Lü Huiqing, who was the governor of Hedong Prefecture, sent out 20,000 infantry and cavalry without authorization to attack Xixia and beheaded more than 600 people, which almost caused a war between Song and Xia.

Lu Huiqing was taking a risk, betting that Song and Xia would definitely go to war, so the new law would not be abolished and he would still be useful.

However, the emperor has never seen his own efforts and always thought that he was just slacking off in the campaign against Xia.

How could Zhang Yue not do his best in the attack on Xia? Once Yuanyou changed, he and Lu Huiqing would step down together.

Facing the emperor, Zhang Yue thought for a moment and said, "Your Majesty, the Military Equipment Bureau has already made new cannons. I have been ordered to go to Lanzhou to pacify Xiacheng."

The official slapped his thigh and said, "But the Thunderbolt Cannon?"

Zhang Yue nodded in agreement.

The official suddenly had a confident smile on his face.

Zhang Yue wiped his sweat and thought that fooling the government really requires a lot of skills.

It's even harder than beating ten Liang Yimai.

...

On the other side, the Dangxiang army spread out along Huluchuan, rushing towards Chongjingyuan Road in a mighty force.

Liang Yimei, sitting on his horse, was very happy, because the Dangxiang tribe was originally a loose group.

One of the things that can achieve the cohesion of a nation is war, and the other is religion.

Through war, he achieved control over various tribes, rewarding the obedient ones and destroying the disobedient ones.

The tribal leaders prostrated themselves before his horse in awe and handed over hostages, their money, food, and warriors.

Through victory after victory in war, the Dangxiang people's confidence in the royal family grew immensely.