In the main hall of Ganquan Palace, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was dressed in formal attire. Although his head was full of silver hair, his body was sitting upright.
It had been a long time since he had faced so many courtiers. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty glanced at everyone's face. He could name these people and knew their positions.
"Why didn't the imperial censor come?" Looking at the ministers, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty suddenly asked.
Prime Minister Gongsun He was imprisoned, so it was normal for him not to show up here. However, without the Prime Minister, the imperial censor, the doctor, was the leader of the foreign dynasty. Du Zhou was not involved in the witchcraft case, but he did not appear now, which forced Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty to ask. .
"Back to Your Majesty, the imperial censor was seriously ill half a month ago and has been bedridden for many days!" The prince is above all the courtiers and is only ten feet away from Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. He is the supervisor of the country, so he replied to the censor's affairs. Couldn't be more appropriate.
"The prime minister is in prison, the imperial censor is seriously ill, and the court has no three princes What have you been doing these two months?" Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty suddenly looked down, and said to the prince in front of all the important officials of the court. Dun scolded.
Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty himself did not expect that the prince would not even tell him that the imperial censor was unable to take charge of such an important matter. Based on the prince and his group of assistant officials and disciples, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty knew without asking that the government was in chaos.
"This the nine ministers and princes in the court are performing their duties, everything is normal!" Liu Ju lowered his head and replied without confidence.
"Humph" Emperor Wu of Han snorted coldly, showing his extreme dissatisfaction. However, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty did not continue to dwell on this matter. He summoned his ministers to Ganquan Palace to discuss more important matters.
"Now that the position of Prime Minister is vacant, I want to follow the example of the Governor's Mansion in the Western Regions and divide the Prime Minister's long history into two mansions, with two prime ministers on the left and right. I appoint Liu Quyou as the left prime minister, and I will grant him the title of Marquis of Peng. The 2,200 households in Pengdi will be appointed as the prime minister. Eat the city. The position of prime minister on the right is reserved for the wise." Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty announced a decision that he had been thinking about for a long time in front of all the ministers in the palace.
"I thank your Majesty for your kindness, and I will repay your majesty with my body broken into pieces!" Liu Quyou was also present. When he heard that he had become the prime minister of Zuo and was made a marquis, he hurriedly went out to bow down and bow down.
Since Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty ascended the throne, there have been a total of eleven prime ministers including Gongsun He who is still in prison. Among these eleven prime ministers, only Shi Qing, a few years ago, died a good death in office. Apart from Shi Qing, no other prime minister died a good death. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty had been thinking about how to weaken the power of the prime minister. Finally, he found that Huo Guang's method of separating the left and right prime ministers was very good.
Taking advantage of Gongsun He's opportunity, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty finally and legitimately appointed the left and right prime ministers. And his nephew Liu Quya became the first Prime Minister of the Left. Before Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty could decide on the candidate for the Prime Minister of the Right, the vacancy was temporarily vacant.
Although Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty has been weakening the rights and status of the Three Dukes, he found that the court is really inseparable from the Three Dukes, or a person who can take charge of the overall situation in the court. Just like this time without Gongsun He and Du Zhou, and with the prince's lack of ability, there was no one in the court who could legitimately lead the overall situation, causing many important things to be backlogged.
No one has any objection to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty¡¯s decision. If the position of prime minister is vacant, someone must take it. Now there is still a vacancy for the position of right prime minister. This still leaves a chance for those who originally had the opportunity to aspire for the position of prime minister.
"Let's talk about the affairs in the Western Regions." The prime minister's affairs are internal worries, and Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty convened the important ministers to discuss the matter in the face of internal worries and foreign invasions. Foreign aggressions are naturally wars in the Western Regions.
Although Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty and most of the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty were wary of Huo Guang, they were even less willing to see Huo Guang defeated. When encountering a menacing foreign invasion, Huo Guang became the minister of the Han Dynasty in the eyes of everyone.
"Your Majesty, I think that although the Commander-in-Chief retreated to Wu'an City, he did not ask for help from Chang'an, which shows that the Commander-in-Chief believed that he still had the strength to fight. This leaves us with enough time to prepare. To defend against foreign enemies, we only need the army and food. Both. What we should do now is to assemble a large army to recruit grain and grass to prevent unexpected events." Lu Bode, as one of the few people in the court who could be called a general, was the first to stand up at this time, and what he said was quite right. Average.
When the War in the Western Regions had been going on for three months, Changan finally discussed for the first time how to respond.
Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty glanced at the faces of these important ministers again. After a while, he was a little surprised to find that there were not many generals among the important ministers in the hall. It seems that only Lu Bode and Yang Pu are barely worthy of great use, and the Han Dynasty, which was originally a gathering of stars, has become depleted of talents. I don¡¯t know when
"Where is Su Jian now?" After a long time, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty suddenly called out an unfamiliar name. When he called out the name, all the important officials in the palace looked at each other, and some people looked at each other.There was even more deep worry in it.
"Your MajestySu Jian died two years ago and took office as the prefect of Daijun" Lu Bode lowered his head and said helplessly. Lu Bod couldn't help but think, "The emperor is really old!"
"Is Su Jian also dead?" Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty muttered to himself in a daze. This change of his fell in the eyes of the important officials in the palace, which convinced these people that the emperor of the Han Dynasty was really old and had even begun to become confused!
Except for Wei Qing and Huo Qubing, the famous generals in the Han Dynasty were basically their subordinates. Su Jian was Wei Qing's general. He once reached the highest rank of Wei Wei, and was ranked among the Nine Qings for a time. However, Su Jian was defeated in a battle with great disparity in strength. At that time, Su Jian led only 3,000 cavalry, but he encountered the Xiongnu Chanyu's main force of tens of thousands. In a head-on battle, Su Jian's entire army was wiped out, and he alone escaped. When he came back, he was demoted to a commoner.
Later, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty also felt that the defeat was not caused by Su Jian's fault, so he found an opportunity to make him the governor of the county. However, perhaps by God's will, Su Jian, who had the potential to become a famous general, also died as the governor of Daijun shortly after Wei Qing's death. At that time, because of Wei Qing's death, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty did not pay much attention to other things and forgot that Su Jian was dead.
"Then let's mobilize the troops from Yanzhou, Yuzhou, and Jingzhou to assemble in Chang'an first." Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty couldn't think of anyone to lead the troops at the moment, so he just asked the three major states closest to Chang'an to assemble troops and transfer them to Chang'an.
Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty took action and basically settled the matter without asking the courtiers to express any opinions. It seems that the simple decisions of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty made the courtiers feel at ease, although the decisions of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty actually had no impact on the war in the Western Regions. But just after the Ganquan Palace meeting, the government was on the right track again, and Chang'an City quickly returned to its former prosperity.
Only some discerning people saw that what ended all this was not the arrangements made by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, but his order to stop the investigation of the witchcraft case. Without the rumblings of the witchcraft case, the courtiers were focusing on government affairs, and merchants and common people no longer had to worry about being captured by Sili Xiaowei's men while walking on the road.
The witchcraft case soon came to an end. Prime Minister Gongsun He was killed by the Yi tribe. Thousands of people involved with Gongsun He were interrogated and executed, including Changping Hou Wei, his wife, and two princesses. Although the witchcraft seems to be over, the relationship between the prince, the queen and the emperor has dropped to a freezing point.
Du Zhou, the censor doctor, seemed to be seriously ill. When everything in Chang'an became calm, he was still unable to stay and walk. After sending several waves of people to visit, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty finally had no choice but to dismiss Du Zhou from his post as censor. And this time the biggest profiteer once again fell on Sang Hongyang. His position as Jiuqing was further advanced and he became the imperial censor, one of the three princes of the Han Dynasty.
Because Sang Hongyang has been in the court for a long time and has many close friends and followers. After the power of Prime Minister Gongsun He was disintegrated, Liu Quya became the new ruler of the court. Sang Hongyang, the imperial censor, became the official The largest force in the court. Even because he is also ranked among the three princes, and Liu Quya is no longer the real prime minister in the past, Sang Hongyang, as the imperial censor, has quite the tendency to act on behalf of the prime minister like Zhang Tang did back then.
In Sang Hongyang's mansion, a servant stood bowed behind Sang Hongyang. At this moment, Sang Hongyang was standing on the attic of the mansion. He leaned on the railing and could see the beautiful scenery of most of Chang'an.
"The lively and prosperous Chang'an is still intoxicatingbut some people always want to destroy it all" Sang Hongyang looked at the lively Chang'an market, the merchants and purchasers who were doing business. The people carrying the goods couldn't help but sigh.
Sang Hongyang is now in his forties and is no longer considered young in this grade. And he finally fulfilled the dream he had made when he was young, realized his ambition, and ranked among the three nobles.
Thinking about the opponent far away in the Western Regions, even Sang Hongyang, who was already a censor, couldn't help but admire him in his heart. Sang Hongyang was one of the few who knew that the reason why Chang'an and even the entire Han Dynasty were so peaceful and prosperous today was all due to Huo Guang's efforts in guarding the country. Huo Guang even played a huge role in ending the witchcraft case ahead of time.
To be fair, Sang Hongyang felt that if he and Huo Guang hadn't had too many irreconcilable conflicts in the early years, he really hoped to have the opportunity to sit down with Huo Guang and talk about the governance of the country. But Sang Hongyang also knew that even if he and Huo Guang didn't have the conflicts in their early years, their differences in philosophy would eventually make it difficult to reconcile.
Later generations often list Sang Hongyang as a representative figure of Legalism. However, the representatives of Legalism all have a fatal flaw, that is, they will pursue the reform path they are determined to pursue without any flexibility or room for change. Although the purpose of their reforms is to make the country rich and powerful, people like them ignore the most important point. Maybe they know it, but that may be the changeThe price of legal reform is the conflict between the country and the nobility or businessmen.
There are too many such Legalist figures, such as Wu Qi, Shang Yang, etc. in the Warring States Period, as well as Wang Anshi in later generationsalso including Sang Hongyang. These people did make the country rich and powerful through reforms or reforms, but they But it harmed the interests of a class of people, and none of these people ended up with a happy ending.
This may be their glory as representatives of Legalism, but it is also their sorrow
Sang Hongyang, now a royal doctor, discovered that the witchcraft case seemed to be over, but in fact it was not over. While he and Huo Guang were trying their best to end it all, there were still some people secretly laying a huge net.
"Has Su Wen been in and out of Li Guangli's house often recently?" Sang Hongyang asked casually, retracting those distant thoughts.
"Not only Su Wen, but also Zuo Prime Minister Liu Quyou, An Daohou Han said, and Yushi Zhang Gan." The servant behind Sang Hongyang whispered, and reported several names.