A.D. 1691 'Spring', April of the sixth year of Han Yuanxing. As the long winter gradually passed, the earth warmed up, the road was clean, and the war preparations of the Lin and Han Empires on the ancient plateau of "Mongolia" had entered the final stage. Song Chen: Since the previous edict moved to the west of the camp in Gansu and Shaanxi, the armies of the north and south have followed one after another, and the grain and horses are growing...... By the beginning of March, the soldiers and horses in the north had been gathered, ordnance, war horses, grain and grass were all gathered, and there were seven armies and 33 brigades, counting more than 28,000 horsemen, more than 100,000 foot soldiers, more than 200 large and small artillery pieces, more than 5,000 copywriters and doctors, and more than 196,000 craftsmen, militias, and dingfu...... When the soldiers and food are complete, the troops are neat, the three armies are up and down, often think about the gentleman's deep grace, and seek to serve the country to serve, but since the winter, the enemy is forced to be outside the city, and the Shimatun is in the 'gate', the national funds are depleted, the ministers have not been ordered, and they dare not go out lightly, and the night is small and stubborn, and the thieves are arrogant, which leads to outrageousness, and the soldiers have many slackness, the ministers are panicked, and the begging period is surrendered, and the heart of the three armies, the emperor's sage is also ......"

On the sixth day after receiving Zhao Liangdong's secret recital, Zhao Guangyuan, a 'Mongolian' general stationed in Zhangjiakou, also sent almost the same recital, in the name of the supreme commander of the army on the northern front, to report to the central court in Beijing that preparations for war had been completed, and to ask the emperor to indicate a definite date for the war.

However, at this time, Beijing was singing and dancing, and was not affected by the war in the slightest.

Lin Han military group from the formal establishment until now, it is the tenth year, with the rise and growth of the empire, Lin Feng has gradually grown from a young boy to a sophisticated king, to this day, the emperor has entered middle age, the 'lips' on the moustache raised, the treatment of the ministers in the court, but also slowly from the original unscrupulous, into majestic.

Thankfully, new members have been added to the royal family this year.

On the fifteenth day of the first month of this year, on the day of the banquet of the monarchs and ministers, Li Guangdi, a scholar of the cabinet, and Chen Menglei, the imperial historian of the inspection capital, suddenly led the ministers to advise the emperor to "complete the prosperity of the heirs, and the four seas are one family". ”

And then on the seventeenth day of the first month, the queen Wu Ake played, persuading the emperor to "take the world as the priority, and the loyalty of all the ministers", and strongly advocate the concubine. In the afternoon of the same day, the living note recorded: "In the upper reaches of the imperial 'flower' garden, the 'flower' frame collapsed suddenly, the emperor's cheeks were damaged, and the blood did not stop. After hearing it, he blamed the eunuch Yang Fu, the chief manager of the 'flower' garden, with thirty rods. ”

This small storm 'wave' did not gradually sink until the end of March, Empress Ake saw that the matter had become a foregone conclusion, and thought that if she still had a cold war with the emperor, it would be in vain to cheapen the little fox, thinking of this layer, her heart slowly faded, and she took the opportunity of the Qingming Festival to pay tribute to the temple and reconcile with Lin Feng.

Because of the relationship between the emperor's cheek injury, Lin Feng has not presided over the court meeting for more than a month, but the emperor's experience has obviously won the sympathy of the majority of courtiers, in fact, when the gossip in the palace spread, many Tai students were even indignant, and planned to write to His Majesty, force Chen Shengren Home National Motto, and ask for the abolition, but this impulsive and dangerous thing was obviously effectively controlled by the Taixue officials, and when they learned the news, the officials of the Ministry of Rites were frightened one by one. You must know that Her Majesty the Queen is indeed not a good stubble, if she really 'makes' any 'mess', I'm afraid even the emperor won't be able to keep it.

Because of this incident, the budget meeting for the new year has been delayed for more than a month.

The central political structure of the Lin Han Empire partially followed the tradition of the Ming Dynasty, compared to the Manchu court, Lin Feng was very open to power, in fact, for many years, although he was the emperor, he has not interfered too much in the specific policies of the civil government, if the Han Dynasty is an army, Lin Feng is more like the military chief of this army, and Li Guangdi is the political commissar of the corner 'color', according to Lin Feng's words, that is: "I am in charge of military affairs; He is in charge of the affairs of life. ”

This good habit has been cultivated since the time of the Han Dynasty and has been inherited to this day. The three major blocks of the Lin Han Empire, Li Guangdi in government affairs, Chen Menglei in supervision, and Zhou Peigong in military affairs, are the three giants of the empire, and among them, Li Guangdi has the heaviest task and the greatest authority, ranking first among the three giants; The second is Chen Menglei, who 'manipulates' the life and death power of officials in the world, ranking second, and Zhou Peigong is clearly a lieutenant, in fact, everyone knows that His Majesty has the most important military power, and he is just a military leader who handles daily chores, so he has to be ranked last.

With the continuous expansion of the territory of the Lin and Han Empires, the daily administrative work of the government became more and more onerous, and Li Guangdi's power was greatly strengthened. Therefore, the political structure of the central government of the empire has gradually changed from a state in which the three princes of administration, supervision, and the military stand on their own, to a cabinet system headed by the scholar Li Guangdi, and in addition to Li Guangdi, Chen Menglei, Zhou Peigong, the five major scholars of the Ministry of Officials, the Ministry of Rites, the Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of Households, and the Ministry of Crime, as well as the 'servant' of commerce and commerce, Xu Danyang, are cabinet members.

Basically, many matters are usually discussed by these high-ranking officials in a meeting first, and only after they have obtained a unified opinion can they report to Emperor Lin Feng and ask for final instructions.

Over the years, Lin Feng has only been directly concerned about three things: first, military affairs, including the transfer and supply of troops and the promotion of senior officers above the brigade level; the second is the appointment of the local governor, the chief secretary, and the judge; The third is the relatively large amount of fiscal expenditure.

The emperor and his ministers tacitly understood that although Lin Feng's prestige and power were almost unlimited, the imperial power had always been controlled within a relatively appropriate range, that is, the army, personnel, and finances.

It was precisely because the emperor let go of specific administrative affairs that the expansion momentum of the Lin Han Empire was so rapid, Li Guang's land administration has always maintained a high level of efficiency, the authority of the central government has been respected by the local government, and various policies and decrees have been implemented quite effectively, and there has never been a phenomenon such as the sudden arrival of the previous dynasty's holy decree, and the eunuchs and eunuchs 'intervening' in a single-handed struggle for power and profit.

However, with the completion of the task of unifying the empire, external military pressure weakened sharply, and factional struggles within the imperial court gradually surfaced.

In any state power, I am afraid that there are large and small, all kinds of factions, and the Lin Han Empire is certainly no exception.

In fact, factional struggles within the military appeared even earlier than the civilian bloc. In the current Han army, only in the army, the Conglong line headed by Zhao Guangyuan, the Liaodong line headed by Ma Ying, and the descending generals with Daniel Zhang, Zhao Liangdong, Wang Jinbao, and Sun Sike as the backbone are three-legged, and they are clearly distinguishing from each other and standing in an unambiguous line.

Although up to now, there has not been a dismantling of each other, but in the handling of large and small matters, such as the supply of ordnance, the promotion and appointment of officers, or the division of defense territory and so on, there is a "cultivation and love" of the "old army's 'door'", each has its own backers, usually a meeting, everyone greets lively, smiling, brothers are long and brothers are short, but if you are serious and go to the heart, then everyone has this account in their hearts.

This kind of factional situation is serious, it seems that it is not a big deal, at least there is absolutely no possibility of rebellion, but if it is not serious, it is shocking when you look at it, and it has spread to almost every corner of the army, even the military academy: Mazhuang Wuxue is the base of the dragon system, and the Fengtai Xuebing battalion is the territory of the Liaodong system; The Baoding Non-commissioned Officer School is the nest of the generals, and the people of each faction tacitly do not interfere with each other's well water.

The same is true of the Guards as the Emperor's own soldiers, and Rick's First Guards Army is, undoubtedly, a representative of the Dragon Line; Zhao Yingkui's Second Guards Cavalry Army and Wang Zhongxiao's Third Guards Cavalry Army are ironclad evidence of Liaodong's loyalty to His Majesty; Lined up to Ma Jinliang's Fourth Army and Yu Chenglong's Fifth Artillery Army, it proves that the generals are loyal to the emperor.

Even the Navy is in such a triangular position.

In fact, in the early days, there were only two factions in the navy, one was the general's Shi Lang; The other faction is from the dragon system Wang Dahai, the two are in charge of a fleet, and they are equally divided with each other, which is quite perfect, but with the expansion of the empire, the newly joined Liaodong system has slowly grown and grown, and after becoming the pillar of the military, it has never had the opportunity to extend its power to the navy, so it is extremely dissatisfied, fortunately, before there was a serious contradiction, Lin Feng was aware of this trend, so he was from the Liaodong system. A group of officers were carefully selected to set up the shelves of the Third Fleet, and in the name of the Nanyang operation, a huge amount of money was allocated to supplement and train in Dalian and Qinhuangdao, and after the return of the expeditionary force, Murong Parrot was naturally appointed as a commodore and a marine unit was established, which was balanced with Shi Lang and Wang Dahai.

It can be said that for the stability of the army, the balance and pacification of the factions, Lin Feng can be said to have taken great pains, from the day the establishment of the Han army began to operate carefully, from scratch, from small to small, trembling, not daring to ignore one day, not only to be cautious and impartial, but also to be quiet, upright, so as to teach others to look calm and peaceful.

Among the three major military systems, the strength of each faction is equal to each other - of course, it is impossible for Lin Feng to let a certain faction appear dominant, but among the three factions, each has its own characteristics.

The so-called dragon system, naturally based on the first group of people who followed Lin Feng to fight the world, their advantage is that they have a close relationship with the emperor, their cronies are favored, and they are also the faction with the most officials who go out of the town and feudal territory, and they take the upper route, with strong power and stable status; Liaodong Department is relying on strength, most of the generals born in this group of horse thieves are fierce and vigorous, and they are good at cavalry tactics, it can be said that now in the Han Empire, 70% of the 'elite' iron cavalry are in their hands, if the empire wants to fight, it must be "the first battle with me, with me will win", and it is also the pillar of the empire's merits, the emperor does not lose closeness, rely on a lot. They take the middle-level route, which is powerful and indispensable; And the generals, that is, the victory lies in the large number of people, the north and south of the great river, the same year is countless, echoing each other, self-contained, all over the government and the opposition, if it does not move, it is enough, if it moves, it will involve the whole body, and at the same time it has inextricable relations with various localities, and even many officers themselves are warlords and local strength factions, and several bosses in the faction, such as Daniel Zhang, Zhao Liangdong, Wang Jinbao, Sun Sike, Luopangen, Ma Harrier, Wang Pingfan, and the big scar next to it, are also ruthless 'colors' who can fight tough battles, can afford to pick up the girder, and are not afraid of others being embarrassed. They are on the lower route, with great momentum, related to the foundation of the empire, and no one insults them.

In order to stabilize the Liaodong system from the dragon system, and then to control the general system from the dragon system and the Liaodong system, the three clamp each other, with the emperor as the final fundamental, this balance runs through the rise and development of the Lin Han Empire and throughout, but it is not the 'yin' strategy and calculation, but the yang scheme, is the art of the emperor, in a sense, it is also the core part of the political structure of the Lin Han Empire.

Compared with the military forces, the civilian clique is much more complicated.

In fact, it is not surprising at all that, judging from the thousands of years of Chinese history, there have always been more 'flowers' in literati politics than in military affairs, and the composition of civilian government in the Lin Han group is more complex than army building.

At first, when Lin Feng entered Beijing, there were no civil officials, and Zhou Peigong, the only one who could serve as a civilian official, has always been an out-and-out soldier and has never done civilian things, so if you analyze it from the composition of personnel, everyone is a faction, and they are all demoted officials who surrendered in the former puppet Qing court, including Li Guangdi and Chen Menglei, the eldest brother and the second brother.

Generally speaking, within a regime, the officials who surrendered have always been dwarfs and have congenital shortcomings, but in the Lin Han Empire, there is no such problem, therefore, there has never been a demotion system in the civilian group, and everyone is not a good thing, because as soon as the big contradictions are gone, all kinds of small contradictions have come into being.

In fact, even Lin Feng himself doesn't know how many civil official factions there are in his court, and these 'chaotic' small circles abound, and there is no way to talk about it when he presses the gourd and scoops it up.

According to the power system, a large number of officials are naturally dependent on Li Guangdi, but the various ministries and Chen Menglei also have their own votes, and their influence is not small; According to the geographical analysis, Li Guangdi and Chen Menglei are both considered to be the southern faction, while the six Shangshu and many local governors, such as Yu Cheng Chan and Tang Bin, are considered to be the northern faction; According to the 'friendship' between each other, it can be divided into a number of large and small circles; according to the background of the former dynasty and the puppet Qing Dynasty, there are also Shunzhi court officials, Kangxi court officials, and even subdivided into a certain year and the same year; In addition to these, there are many differences in each other's schools of thought and political views, such as conservatives, 'radical' progressives, and muddy mud, etc., and the circle can be drawn again.

In short, in other words, the civilian side is simply a pot of porridge, contradicting each other, fighting each other, and at the same time uniting with each other. But on the whole, it is still Lee Kwang-di's faction that is the most powerful, and in the end, it is the first and auxiliary minister in the cabinet, and the first in the DPRK, and no one can match it.

However, each faction has its own interests, whether it is its own 'door', or its own place, or its own faction, or its own school, and it is always inevitable that there will be struggles and fights. Under the authority of a strong emperor like Lin Feng, even Li Guangdi could not achieve the point where the power leaned towards the government and the opposition, and others did not dare to speak up.

This kind of struggle and struggle within the civilian clique is most 'intense' and obvious in the allocation of the fiscal budget every year.