Li Ze once talked to the crown prince Li Ke about the art of compromise, telling Li Ke that politics is actually a process of compromise, and in the process of compromise, we find the common ground between the two sides of the contradiction, and then around this common point, everyone seeks common ground while reserving differences, and does our best to maintain unity, so that the whole group can maintain the most powerful combat effectiveness.

But Li Ze did not tell Li Ke that while compromise, struggle is essential. Li Ze can compromise with his opponent on the details and give up certain interests, but he will never give up half a step in terms of major policies.

Either the east wind overpowers the west wind, or the west wind overpowers the east wind, and on the most fundamental political system, Li Ze will not compromise even a little bit with his opponent.

Was the system previously practiced by the Tang Dynasty not good?

Not really.

However, at least at this stage, Li Ze believes that a specific analysis of specific issues is extremely inappropriate. The system of three provinces and six ministries played a great role in the early Tang Dynasty and the prosperous Tang Dynasty, but this was based on a premise, that is, the imperial court at that time had overwhelming power, and the emperor still had supreme authority.

At the time of the Tang Dynasty, the Anxi Protectorate only had more than 30,000 troops when it had the largest number of troops, but it was these more than 30,000 Tang soldiers who controlled tens of millions of square kilometers of land in the Western Regions, and their power surpassed dozens of local countries, making them tremble and walk on thin ice.

With such a small number of troops, while maintaining the stability of the Western Regions, the Tang soldiers also dared to draw their forces to fight with the Arab Empire, although this fight was ultimately lost, but it also allowed the Arab Empire to see the strong strength of this Eastern Empire, so it has always maintained friendly relations with the Tang Empire.

At this time, the Tang Emperor was extremely strong.

At this time, it was necessary to limit the imperial power. Otherwise, the emperor's brain twitched, and he might do something unreliable.

But what about now? Is there any comparison with that time? At this time, what is needed is a strong leadership group, and any restraint will only cause a large amount of internal consumption of one's own strength, thereby weakening the external force, and then affecting Li Ze's entire strategy.

Li Ze did not think that his wisdom, including political wisdom, was superior to that of Xue Ping, but he had an incomparable advantage among these people, that is, he knew the general law of development in China's thousands of years of history, and knew how necessary it was for a country like China to have a strong central government.

There can be opposing voices, but they must not affect the central government's major policies.

Therefore, he is bound to reform the current political system.

It is an eternal truth that political power comes out of the barrel of a gun. Even if Xue Ping and these people have lotus tongues, in front of the powerful martial army, their voices can't be high.

Li Ze looked at Xue Ping's somewhat decadent appearance, knowing that after a short period of excitement, he finally figured out where this joint was, without strength, he would say anything in vain. I'm afraid that Xue Ping is now thinking about how to seek greater benefits and rights in the existing system, right?

This is possible.

Li Ze didn't care about giving Xue Ping a certain amount of power within the framework he had demarcated, after all, these people would also be an important help and component on the road ahead. It is also bad for oneself to exclude them completely.

"Now for the second thing." Li Ze's gaze fell on some specific people in the hall, and said slowly: "As early as two years ago, I presented the eight strategies for strengthening the country for Your Majesty in Chang'an, and the first thing in the list is to withdraw the town, so the second thing to discuss today is to withdraw the town." I Wuwei Festival town as an example, all states, counties, and prefectures will be directly under the center, personnel rights, and financial rights are all under the direct jurisdiction of the center, and the governors of states, counties, and prefectures are directly appointed by the imperial court and directly under their jurisdiction, and the governors of prefectures, counties, and prefectures are also directly responsible to the imperial court. ”

Once again, it was like throwing a boulder into the pool, and in the hall, many people's faces turned blue again, but this time Xue Ping, Tian Lingzi and the others seemed very calm.

The Tang Dynasty has reached this point, to be honest, because after the peasant rebellion began decades ago, the system of temperance was established in order to quell the riot. At that time, in order to restore peace to the whole country as soon as possible, the imperial court gave the Jiedu envoy great power. And this measure also played a great role in quelling the riots.

However, it is easy to delegate power, but it is difficult to collect it. The peasant rebellion was indeed quelled, but the festival made the tail not fall, and finally formed a situation in which each section made the world cut the drama, and pushed the already crumbling Tang Dynasty into the abyss. Officials like Xue Ping and Tian Lingzi, who have been serving in the central government, naturally have a personal experience of this.

The withdrawal of the town is naturally in their interests and in the interests of the royal family.

"General Tian, what do you think?" Li Ze set his eyes on Tian Ping, who had just returned to Shun. This person is the son of Tian Chenghe, the envoy of Wei Bojiedu, and he is also the leader of Wei Bo's family after Tian Yue's death.

Tian Ping stood up and said to the arch: "There is no objection to the post, the Taifu gave an order, and the original Wei Bo ruled, so he naturally bowed his head and listened to the order." ”

"General Tian is really a person who understands righteousness." Li Ze nodded with satisfaction.

Tian Ping expressed his attitude, and Zhaoyi was now under the control of Wu Wei, needless to say, Li Ze didn't look at Han Qi, and said slowly: "Although Zhang Jia and Zhang Defense Envoy are not here today, I sent him a letter on this issue, and he also expressed his firm support for the opinions of the imperial court. The prefectures and counties under his jurisdiction will resolutely implement the decisions of the imperial court. ”

Han Qi couldn't sit still any longer, although Li Ze didn't name him, but at this moment, everyone's eyes in the hall fell on him.

He stood up and arched his hand: "The imperial court wants to withdraw the town, and Han naturally supports it, but I don't know if Taifu has thought about it, in this way, festivals such as Tiande, Shuofang, Xia Sui and other festival towns have already expressed their loyalty to the imperial court, if the imperial court wants to withdraw the town, it is tantamount to depriving them of their rights, will they rebound, will they turn to Zhu Wen?" Zhu Wen lives in the Central Plains, and the south is also watching, will this move of the imperial court make the southern towns feel cold, and thus turn to Zhu Wen? I don't think this is appropriate, and I would like to ask you and all of you to think twice. ”

Li Ze smiled slightly: "Specific analysis of specific affairs, special treatment of special things, southern towns, don't think about it for the time being, as for Tiande, Shuofang and other towns, because they are border towns, this time the withdrawal of towns will not include them." This withdrawal of the town is only aimed at the area under the direct jurisdiction of the imperial court. ”

Han Qi was suddenly depressed, wasn't this just aimed at him?

"Does Han Shuai have any other opinions?" Li Ze looked at Han Qi with a smile and said.

"I just want to remind Taifu to pay attention to the fact that we are the Tang Imperial Court, and we should focus on the entire Tang Dynasty, not the only area now." Han Qi sighed, "Isn't this pushing some other forces to Zhu Wen's side?" ”

"Each has its own small abacus, and if it is advantageous, it will be allowed if it is not profitable, and this situation must be effectively changed." Li Ze restrained his smile: "Han Shuai, can I know why my Wuwei can raise hundreds of thousands of elite troops with the current territory and people, reject Zhang Zhongwu in the north, resist Zhu Wen in the south, and win the current situation on both battlefields?" Let me tell you, there are only two, one government, and one game of chess. Concentrate all our strength, do big things, do important things, only in this way can we get out of the predicament step by step. ”

"Since Taifu has already decided, what else do you ask me to do?" Han Qi sat down angrily, "Hedong obeys the order." ”

"This is the minister's bearing." Li Ze gave a thumbs up: "Don't mislead your business for your own benefit." Since everyone has no opinion on this matter, let's move on to the third thing. ”

"Army reorganization!"

As soon as these four words came out, the atmosphere in the hall became solemn again.

At this time, there is a soldier who is the king of grass, but it is an iron law, without strength, it is not easy to say anything. Why is Li Ze the loudest? The reason why he is sitting in the center now is because his martial arts are the strongest. Hedong Han Qi was originally considered a candidate, but under the misalignment of the connection, his power has now shrunk sharply, and he is suppressed by Li Ze and Zhang Jia from two directions.

But he still has tens of thousands of elite Hedong troops, which is why Li Ze has repeatedly targeted him at today's meeting.

If some of the previous ones have not touched everyone's bottom line, then the army will be reorganized, and they will never back down again, and if Li Ze is allowed to take away all the military power, then everyone will be completely confused.

"Whether it is Wuwei's, Hedong's, or Weibo's, or Zhaoyi's, they will all be under the rule of the imperial court. In the future, it will be under the unified jurisdiction of the Ministry of War. Sure enough, as soon as Li Ze opened his mouth, he made everyone change color.

"Rebuild the Twelve Guards, and rebuild the Zhichong Mansions in various places. The existing army was brought under the command of the Twelve Guards, and the soldiers of various prefectures were under the rule of Zhechongfu. Li Ze said: "Of course, this is a rather heavy work, which requires us to think slowly and thoroughly, and do this step by step. ”

Speaking of this, Li Ze looked at Han Qi again: "Han Shuai, you are a general of a hundred battles, with rich combat experience, and you have always been excellent in managing the army, after withdrawing from the town, you will naturally have to be dismissed, I don't know the post of secretary of the military department, do you have any intentions?" ”

Everyone was surprised, it was Han Qi, who was also stunned, and of course, immediately fell into a dilemma.

The military department is in charge of the world's soldiers and horses, which is a very tempting bait, but if he becomes an official, it means that he has to give up his foundation in Hedong.

How does this make him choose?