In the imperial study room of the Holy Martial Palace, a Shura guard quickly walked into the hall and bowed to Yang Tong to report: "Holy Lord, Zuo Servant and others are here to see ......."

"Xuan!"

"Wechen see the saint!"

After a while, Gongren, Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, and Ling Jing walked into the main hall and bowed.

"Sit!"

"Thank you."

"General Yin came to report just now, saying that Li Yuan's Wuchuan Division's power has been further expanded, and it has reached the point where there is no need to report arresting people and killing people. After killing several military officials, the case was closed in a perfunctory manner. Yang Tong gave a general introduction, and did not rush to say the speculation of Zero Zero One, so as not to affect everyone's thinking, but asked: "What is Li Yuan's purpose in doing this?" ”

Although everyone was thoughtful, no one spoke, but looked at Yang Gongren.

Yang Gongren was the first minister of the Great Sui and the head of all the ministers. Although there is no explicit rule that first come, first come, but in this case, Yang Gongren should be the first to show the most basic respect.

"Holy Heaven!" Yang Gongren bowed his hand and said in a deep voice: "Although there is no obvious action, from the expansion of the power of the Wuchuan Division, Wei Chen can also guess a thing or two. ”

"Please tell me about it." Yang Tong said with a smile.

"The puppet Tang court has been paying off debts, this debt is mainly the old debts of the army, since Li Yuan entered the Guan army, his army has been killed, no less than 200,000 people, if you add the soldiers captured by my Great Sui, to say the least, also lost a million young people, which means that he lost a million sets of relatively complete equipment, and then expand the army, and need to build new equipment, such an expense is enough to drag down a country, even with the strong foundation of the Guanlong nobles can not support it, not to mention, the battle of Guanzhong happened too suddenly, The end was too fast, causing Li Yuan and the Guanlong nobles to put their wealth in Guanzhong unable to take away a single rice or money, and they almost left the house, so Li Yuan became more and more sad year by year. As far as the minister knows, Li Yuan's bereavement pension for the dead soldiers has not been paid clearly to this day, which sounds incredible, but this is the truth, the main reason is that he has been losing the war in the years since the rebellion, and it can be said that the old debts have not been paid off and new accounts have come again. ”

Everyone laughed.

Yang Gongren smiled and continued: "Right now, my Great Sui has announced the expansion of the army by 500,000, and Li Yuan will naturally not sit idly by, what should I do?" can only engage in an 'arms race' with my Great Sui, but the truth of the puppet Tang is that the treasury is empty, the financial resources are not making ends meet, and they are drying up day by day, so what can he do if he doesn't fight the Guanlong nobles? Especially the Dugu family, which was known as the richest family in the world, and was the main force supporting Li Yuan's rebellion, in line with the principle of the three holes of the cunning rabbit, the wealth they hoarded in Bashu was naturally not much less than that of Guanzhong, so Li Yuan took the rich Guanlong nobles to open the knife, of course, this is one of them. ”

"Second, the pseudo-Tang Dynasty is in danger, and the various gate valve families see that the situation is not good, and they send representatives to the Sui Dynasty again and again, and the frequent exchanges make Li Yuan fearful, worried that these people will stab them in the back at a critical moment and cooperate with my Great Sui, so whether he is out of the stability of the country, or for money, food, army, etc., he needs to get rid of the Guanlong nobles."

Speaking of this, Yang Gongren glanced at Fang Xuanling with emotion, all of this was due to Fang Xuanling's conspiracy to disrupt the situation of the pseudo-Tang Dynasty - 'pretending to lift the ban on the gate valve family, causing civil strife in the pseudo-Tang Dynasty, and using Li Yuan's hand to get rid of the world's family. ’

"What do you think the left servant said?" Yang Tong asked with a smile.

"The words of the left servant shoot, the minister fully agrees." Fang Xuanling arched his hand and said: "Li Yuan is supported by the Guanlong nobles, seized the state and Guanzhong, he will never allow this scene to be repeated within the puppet Tang, besides, against the Guanlong nobles, he can get money, grain, land and soldiers, which can greatly improve the strength of the puppet Tang, in the final analysis, Li Yuan was completely forced by my Great Sui and had to make a desperate bet." ”

"The minister seconded the proposal!"

"The minister seconded the proposal!"

Li Yuan's intentions were actually obvious, and Du Ruhui and Ling Jing had nothing to say.

"It's too late to delay until today, even if he kills the Guanlong nobles with a quick knife to cut through the chaos, but with only one Bashu's national strength, he wants to fight against the Great Sui, who has most of the world, and there is no door. What's more, his army is so small, I don't believe that he can still recapture Guanzhong, recapture the state, and capture the whole world, no matter how he tosses it now, it is just madness after death. ”

Yang Tong said this and asked: "Li Yuan has two methods, one is to completely eradicate the Guanlong nobles, and the other is to kill one faction to deter the other faction, so that the other party can honestly hand over the money, grain, land and population. What do you think he did? ”

"If the minister is Li Yuan, he will use the second type." Yang Gongren said.

"Why?"

"The first method involves too wide a scope, if Li Yuan wants to solve the Dugu faction and the Dou faction at the same time, the time does not allow it, because my Great Sui will not give him this time, this is one of them; Second, he could not afford to betray his relatives. Third, and most importantly, "

Yang Gongren glanced at Yang Tong and continued: "Li Yuan is not good at military politics, but he is a master of playing with power, he did not enjoy the sweetness of the emperor's position until he was in his fifties, and Li Jiancheng is already in his thirties, he is afraid that his son will usurp the party and seize power, so he supports Li Shimin to balance; And in order to balance the court, after entering the Guanzhong, Li Yuan took Pei Lian, Liu Wenjing, Dugu Quan, Dou Wei, Xiao Yu, and Chen Shuda as the prime ministers, the first two of these six people represent the Yuanxun faction, the middle two are Guanlong magnates, and the last two are the southern scholars, but if you watch carefully, you will find that these six people have their own faction, plus the clan faction headed by Li Xiaogong and the relatives headed by Chai Shao, there are eight major factions, and among the clan relatives, they are divided into three small factions: Li Xiaogong, Li Shentong, and Li Xiaoji, and the same is true for relatives. ”

"What does this have to do with Li Yuan getting rid of the Guanlong nobles?"

"The Guanlong nobles started with military force, if Li Yuan got rid of the Guanlong nobles in one go, then there was no faction in the puppet Tang army that could restrain Li Shimin as the leader of the Jin Dynasty, which would be detrimental to Li Yuan's throne. According to the minister's opinion, if Li Yuan chooses to kill one faction and win over another faction, then the one who will be killed will definitely be the Dugu faction, which has a great relationship with Li Shimin. Yang Gongren finally asserted.

"I'll go!" Yang Tong sneered and sneered: "It's almost over, and I don't forget his throne." This old guy is really hopeless. ”

"Li Yuan is indeed hopeless." Du Ruhui said with a smile: "In fact, at the very beginning, the Holy Shang not only had many powerful external enemies, but even internal problems were numerous, especially the serious shortage of talents, it was difficult to find even a person to govern the place, and he had to bear the verbal criticism of the world's families. At the beginning of Li Yuan's rebellion, it was originally very promising, with the support of the Long nobles, the Kwantung scholars, and the southern scholars, and occupied the land of Guanlong, which controlled the four stops and controlled the world, and the rich Bashu and Jingxiang were important places for grain production, and its huge population, talents, and money and grain base were like the Qin State during the Warring States Period. It's a pity that Li Yuan deliberately provoked the dispute between Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin, and subdivided the courtiers into countless large and small factions, and all kinds of internal strife ruined the good future, and the culprit was Li Yuan. ”

Yang Tong nodded approvingly: "I had a very bad reputation at the beginning, and the reputation of the Great Sui is even more stinky, if Li Yuan is also taking a scholar, I'm afraid that there are really few people to participate in my imperial examination." But since things have come to this day, even if Li Yuan regrets breaking his intestines, he can't go back. What's next? Is it just passively watching? ”

As soon as the words fell, the hall suddenly fell silent, and the four important ministers thought silently.

After a while, Fang Xuanling stood up and arched his hand: "Holy Lord, the minister has a strategy, maybe he can make the pseudo-Tang make more trouble." ”

"Say it."

"In the spring of the next year, the main direction of my Great Sui is Li Mi, Lin Shihong, Meng Haigong, and Lingnan Feng An!" Fang Xuanling said with a smile: "But according to the practice of our army sending troops, Li Yuan has always been the first, so Li Yuan doesn't know the direction of our army's attack next year, and thinks that destroying Tang is the first choice." In view of this, the minister thought that we could send an envoy to Xiangyang, so he said that I, the Great Sui, was willing to sign a one-year armistice agreement with Li Yuan, and the condition of the armistice was that the puppet Tang Dynasty ceded Xiangyang, Chungling, Jingling, and Yiling, and if Li Yuan agreed, let him immediately return to Bashu, and my Great Sui would obtain the four counties of Jingzhou out of thin air. ”

"With the current strength of our army, coupled with the army that is about to be raised, it is completely possible to start a multilateral war in the coming year. Why did Xuan Ling give the Tang Dynasty a year of respite? Yang Tong asked.

Fang Xuanling said with a smile: "Li Yuan has a year to train troops, and he may have made achievements in the army, but there is only one Bashu in his territory, even if he works hard to develop and train the army, he will not have many troops, let alone be strong." Once Li Yuan isolated himself in Bashu, Li Mi, Lin Shihong, and Meng Haigong Feng Ang fell into a helpless state, and it was easier to extinguish it, and then Li Yuan could be wiped out in Bashu with a full flowering momentum! ”

"The above is a military embodiment; The other point is mainly reflected in long-term political stability. It is only because once the armistice agreement is signed, although the puppet Tang Dynasty has a one-year respite, in order to keep Bashu, Li Yuan, who is lonely, can only make the entire Bashu miserable and complaining, so that he will completely lose the support of the people and lay a solid foundation for the unification of our Great Sui and the governance of Bashu. ”

Fang Xuanling saw that everyone was listening carefully, and said in a deep voice: "The pseudo-Tang Dynasty is like a leafy tree, in fact, its interior has slowly withered, but it has not yet been completely manifested, if we destroy it prematurely, many people will miss the leafy pseudo-Tang Dynasty, plus my Great Sui's governance program, is based on the premise that the family gate valve loses its interests, it is inevitable that some people will not forget the pseudo-Tang Dynasty that has obtained everything, and when the time comes, those old and young people will be dissatisfied with my Great Sui, and some people will inevitably try to restore the pseudo-Tang; If we are not in a hurry, and wait until the decline of the pseudo-Tang Dynasty is fully revealed, and the people under the rule are not able to make a living, and they all regard the pseudo-Tang Dynasty as a flood of beasts, and then annihilate it, there will be no people who miss the pseudo-Tang Dynasty, and even if the old and the young rebel, they will not get a few people to respond. Just like Wang Shichong, if he perishes when he implements the Juntian system and recuperates with the people, some people must miss him now, but he perished after the poor army and the people of Luoyang are not living, so the people of Luoyang cheered at the arrival of my Great Sui army and regarded my Great Sui as a life-saving benefactor. ”

Yang Tong suddenly realized, "Xuan Ling is far-sighted, and I admire it very much." ”

"Don't dare!" Fang Xuanling said modestly: "In fact, this policy is also based on the Holy Lord's occupation of a land, the governance of a land, and the stability of a land. ”

"Holy Lord, the minister thinks that Fang Shangshu's strategy is feasible!" Yang Gongren thought about it for a while, and then said, "Doesn't the Holy Lord often say that the covenant is for tearing up? Do we have any agreements to abide by against thieves? If the puppet Tang Dynasty has already complained, and we don't want to bear this notoriety, it's a big deal to create an incident in which the Tang Army tears up the agreement and attacks our Great Sui first. ”

"The left servant shoots Takami." Yang Tong smiled and asked Fang Xuanling: "What if Li Yuan doesn't answer the truce?" ”

"It shouldn't be forgotten, we don't have anything to lose anyway. Moreover, the main purpose of the mission was not an armistice. ”

"What is the main purpose?"

"Visiting the heads of the Guanlong nobles, so that the rift between Li Yuan and them will be further expanded, and the ultimate goal is to make Li Yuan disbelieve in the Dugu clan and the Dou faction, and force him to annihilate Guanlong in one step, causing greater civil strife."

"What do you think?" Yang Tong asked with a smile.

Yang Gongren smiled and said, "It's completely feasible!" Whether or not to sign an armistice, we all have a big advantage. ”

Du Ruhui and Ling Jing also smiled and nodded

Yang Tong asked, "Who can do it?" ”

"Wechen is willing to follow the example of the sages and recommend himself." Fang Xuanling surrendered his hand and asked for his life.

Yang Tong looked at Du Ruhui next to him and said, "Xuan Ling is the main envoy, Keming is the deputy envoy!" After the year, he went to Xiangyang. ”

"Whoa!"

Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui surrendered their orders.

……

Seeing that this matter was almost over, Yang Tong pointed to the large pile of notes on the desk and said: "I am too busy to review such a large number of notes by myself, and because the result of the approval is a family, it is easy to make mistakes, and I am ready to set up an organization similar to the pseudo-Tang Dynasty's 'political affairs hall' to assist me in dealing with the notes." ”

This is by no means a whim of Yang Tong, but a deliberate decision, a person's energy is limited, lack of energy is one thing, and it is easy to make mistakes, the most important thing is that if there is no such an institution, it is difficult to guarantee that there will be a lazy emperor in the future, once he throws the right to review and approve to a cronies, then this dynasty is not far from the end. Therefore, he felt that he should set up an institution similar to the cabinet and the military aircraft department, first, to help him deal with state affairs, and secondly, to institutionalize this institution, so as to avoid the occurrence of harem, eunuchs, and ministers in the future.

Yang Gongren is a person who thinks about the country wholeheartedly, and when he heard Yang Tong say this, he frowned and said: "Shengshang, the political hall of the pseudo-Tang Dynasty is composed of six senior members, as long as the seal is sealed, it can be called Xiangguo, and all major decisions, Li Yuan and his son will discuss with these six ministers, but in this way, the power of these six people is further expanded, and the power of the imperial court is almost in the hands of these six people, if I copy the Great Sui, it will be really unfavorable to the long-term development of my Great Sui." ”

"What the left servant said is extremely true!" Fang Xuanling also said solemnly: "In fact, before the Great Sui, there were similar 'political affairs halls', such as the 'four nobles' who helped Emperor Wen manage the government, the 'election of Cao Qigui' who assisted Emperor Wu, and even the 'seven nobles' of Wang Shichong...... are similar to Li Yuan's main hall. These people all wear many hats, take Pei Ju in 'Electing Cao Qigui' as an example, in addition to being one of the seven nobles, he is also a waiter of the Yellow Gate, and the rest of the people also have their own functions, and they are all powerful. “

"'Elect Cao Qigui' colludes with each other, your people will be promoted today, everyone else will pass, and tomorrow, my people will be promoted, and you must also agree, so that this institution will become a holy place for these seven human rights and money transactions, and it will be difficult for others to get promoted."

"In the twelfth year of the Great Cause, Emperor Wu toured the Jiangdu. In addition to the left servant, there are also Pei Ju, Pei Yun, Su Wei, Yu Wenshu, and Yu Shiji, and the left servant was excluded and framed by the other five because of his integrity, and was finally released as the ambassador of Henan Province, and ran to the Central Plains alone and without soldiers to 'catch thieves'. It can be seen from this that everything in this kind of department depends on the consciousness of the officials inside, and if one person is selfish, it will lead others to follow suit, which is really not good for the country. ”

The establishment of this kind of institution will undoubtedly form a small decision-making group, and it may not be a good thing to have too much power, so Yang Tong has clearly stipulated before: All the promulgation of systems and laws must be resolved by the Shuowang Dynasty, which is to disperse part of the power of the decision-making level.

Today's early dynasties are divided into three types: the most solemn is the grand court meeting held on the first day and the winter solstice, the gongs and drums are beaten, the honor guard vehicles are long, and the ministers and the envoys of the surrounding neighbors are congratulated; The second is the first and fifteenth day of each month to hold the Shuowang pilgrimage, this astronomical martial arts according to the grade in place, the emperor began to sit on the throne, the group of officials in the ceremony to sing praises and bow again, in Beijing nine grades above the civil and military attaches must attend, etiquette is greater than the effect; The third type is the regular staff of each session to deal with daily government affairs.

That is to say, the three early dynasties only held daily regular participation in doing practical things, and Yang Tong now put the system and laws promulgated, as well as various major events in the Shuowang court to resolve the decision, in fact, the Shuowang court is proposed as a court meeting to do practical things, and the intention of doing so is threefold: first, it weakens the authority of the three provinces and ten ministries; The second is to let the civil and military above the nine grades participate in the discussion of major military and political affairs, everyone has the right to express their opinions, and gather the wisdom of the people for the use of the imperial court, this new Shuowang court staff is very popular with the hundred officials, mainly Yang Tong will share a part of the power to the hundred officials, so that the hundred officials can enjoy the joy of participating in and deciding on national affairs; Third, enhance the sense of participation and belonging of low-level officials, as well as the enthusiasm and initiative of doing things, and ultimately cultivate middle- and low-level officials with ideas and brains for the country, which is conducive to the long-term development of the country.

For Yang Tong's decentralization behavior, Yang Gongren and others not only did not object, but held a supportive attitude, even if their generation can keep their hearts, but the Great Sui needs to be passed on, and the heirs of the various ministries may not be able to keep the original intention, Yang Dong's restructuring and decentralization of power is not harmful to the inheritance of the Great Sui, and everyone is happy to see it.

Now when I heard Yang Tong say that he wanted to set up a centralized power 'political affairs hall' in Dasui, the four people present opposed it one by one.

Yang Tong was moved, and said with a smile: "The establishment of a department similar to the political hall is imperative, and it is also the trend of system development. Another reason is that the successor to the throne is a lazy descendant, and he casually throws the song to his cronies to deal with, and the consequences are even more unimaginable. Therefore, it is a good thing that some mechanisms have been set up ahead of schedule, but as a generation that formulates systems, we still have decades to improve various systems, and we still have decades to learn from each other's strengths. ”

"The Holy One has an idea, right? You don't have to sell it. Hearing Yang Tong say this, Yang Gongren asked with a smile in high spirits.

The three provinces and six ministries and the military system, the local system in Yang Tong before, in the exploration of the grass stage, after Yang Tong's guidance, everyone one by one to improve into today's official system, although Yang Tong did not participate in the details, but he is powerful in thinking what people can't, his bizarre ideas are the most admirable place.

"Please make it clear to the Holy Lord." Fang Xuanling also said expectantly.

Yang Tong said: "The harm of similar institutions such as 'Four Gui', 'Election Cao Qigui', and 'Political Affairs Hall' mainly comes from holding multiple positions. Therefore, the selection and appointment of people and the system are very crucial, if the important ministers of the DPRK and the central government are allowed to concurrently serve, the authority will be infinitely magnified, and then the old road will be followed. It is not possible to use new people, because they have no experience in governing and governing, and everyone is just talking on paper, which is not beneficial to the country. Compared with the first two, the old ministers who have retired from officialdom are more suitable, and this kind of people have rich experience, so that they can act as my staff, deal with the slack, and continue to play their spare time for the imperial court. They only have the false position of taking the money, and have the ability to govern, discuss and participate in political power, but they have no decision-making power. After each recital is reviewed, the result is voted on by a show of hands, and in the recital, everyone's opinions and opinions are entrained or pasted in the recital, so that the emperor can see it. After the emperor approved it, he gave it to Zhongshu Province for decision-making, Menxia Province for review, and Shangshu Province for implementation. ”

Just like the politics/association of later generations, even if you quarrel with your throat, you will still be stuck in the end, and if you want to interfere in the government, there is no door.

Yang Gongren pondered for a moment and said, "This method of the Holy Lord is extremely wonderful, not only relieving the pressure on the emperor, but also not causing power to be concentrated in the hands of a small group; Even if there are people in it who have selfish intentions and affect the emperor's decision-making, there are still Zhongshumen, Menxia Province, and Shangshu Province to check it, and if they are assessed at all levels, the harm can be reduced to a very low level. ”

"Weichen has a problem here, if such a department is established, there will inevitably be a chief official, if this person absorbs several other people as his people, is it not up to him to decide whether right or wrong?" Du Ruhui expressed his opinion.

Yang Tong said: "I call this department the 'Cabinet', and the Cabinet has seven members, and there is no chief official above others, and the status of each other is equal. Everyone is in charge of one day, and the next day, it is the turn of the other person, and the cycle is seven days. ”

If the cabinet is given the power to govern and make decisions, and a first assistant is appointed, sooner or later the 'cabinet' will become the de facto master of the imperial court, and the first assistant will also become Zhang Juzheng.

During the Wanli period, Zhang Juzheng was quite the prime minister of the constitutional monarchy, and as for the Wanli Emperor, it was reduced to a symbolic ornament.

Zhang Juzheng was able to do this, first of all, the Wanli Emperor at that time was still a child, and Zhang Juzheng, as the emperor's teacher, affected the decision-making of the Wanli Emperor with one sentence; Moreover, when Emperor Wanli approved it, it was completed under the guidance of the great eunuch Feng Bao, and Feng Bao had a close relationship with Zhang Juzheng. Zhang Juzheng in the cabinet to give his opinion to others to agree, after writing it into a chapter, and then approved by his own Feng Bao, and finally became a Huo Guang, Cao Cao-style minister, he controlled the government and arrogant, arrogant and arrogant, reprimanded the Wanli Emperor is not polite at all, as long as the Wanli Emperor deviates from his plan to scold, the official to his point, if you want to overthrow the emperor, it is also a matter of a few words, because of the above reasons, and finally was liquidated by the Wanli Emperor retaliation.

In the world, there are few people who can always follow the way of courtiers like Zhang Juzheng, and they have not gone further. Therefore, the cabinet established by Yang Tong will not give the cabinet the power to govern and decide, let alone concentrate the power of the main and different powers in the hands of one person.

Of course, the key is to improve it, and then form an institutionalization, use the system to make the distribution of power clear and explicit, stipulate which things belong to the cabinet, which belong to the Shuowang court, and which ones need to be decided by the emperor, and which agency will make decisions and review, and finally classify all kinds of details, and finally stipulate them by the system. This is also what Yang Tong will do in the future, and he plans to spend ten years to improve the power distribution system.

As for whether future generations will open up new departments, it is not up to Yang Tong to manage, what he can do is to create and develop freely by future generations.

"Weichen thinks it can be piloted!" Yang Gongren said.

"The minister seconded the proposal!"

"The minister seconded the proposal!"

"Recommend the right person as soon as possible."