"Prime Minister Yu, Counselor Liu has arrived at the door."

After listening to the old housekeeper's words, Fan Zhen sighed secretly, and then turned his head to look at Yang Jiong, who was sitting opposite.

Yang Jiong's face turned pale, his right fist was clenched tightly, and his whole body trembled slightly.

If you know today, why bother in the first place? Fan Zhen sighed softly and said lightly: "Please invite Liu Shenxiang to the West Flower Hall for tea." ”

To tell the truth, Fan Zhen has been persuading Yang Jiong to let him die of the heart that turned the tables. However, Yang Jiong just didn't listen, but wanted to get involved with the Confucian scholars who made trouble, and plotted to overthrow Li Zhongyi's brutal rule all day long.

Now, the Wenchen Group and the Confucian Group have been dealt a fatal blow. Nearly 100 Confucian leaders were arrested alone, and as for the nameless Confucian scholars, they didn't know how many they were.

After the old housekeeper went out, Fan Zhen slowly got up, stared at Yang Jiong, and said, "If you get out this time, you should be dead, right?" ”

"Xianggong, ...... you" Yang Jiong stood up excitedly, even though he had a thousand words, he didn't know where to start.

Fan Zhen ignored Yang Jiong, walked out of the inner study, and paced towards the West Flower Hall.

In the West Flower Hall, Liu Jinshan sat firmly on a chair, drinking tea while admiring the calligraphy and paintings in the room.

Fan Zhenai was a great Confucian in the world, and once served as the prime minister of the political hall, and his collection of calligraphy and paintings, each one is a rare treasure.

"Haha, Brother Guangqing, I haven't seen you for a long time." When Fan Zhen entered the house, Liu Jinshan was admiring a good painting with his hands behind his back.

"Hehe, yes, yes, I haven't seen you in a while." After Liu Jinshan heard the sound, he immediately turned around and saluted with his fists.

Although Fan Zhen has stepped aside and become a so-called political minister with no real power, he is a veteran of the Four Dynasties after all, and his qualifications are very old, and Liu Jinshan does not dare to snub him at all.

"Brother Guangqing, please sit down and talk." Fan Zhen walked to the top and politely gave up his seat.

After Liu Jinshan sat down, he said with a smile: "Fan Xianggong's words are getting more and more sophisticated. "That's not a lie.

Fan Zhifu is idle at home, and in addition to reciting poems and lyrics, he writes and paints all day long. As long as the kung fu is deep and the iron pestle is sharpened into a needle, this clear saying is indeed reasonable.

Fan Zhen glanced at Liu Jinshan, and saw that his face was full of red light and his complexion was good, so he couldn't help but sigh secretly. In the officialdom, only by following the right person will you rise to the top and soar.

I think that at the beginning, when Fan Zhen was in power, and when he was in the political hall, Liu Jinshan was just the judge of the left hall of Kaifeng Mansion, and he was only seven grades at best.

I once thought that in just a few years, Liu Jinshan became the governor of the cabinet and the most powerful contender for the future prime minister.

The world is really unpredictable!

"Xianggong ......" Liu Jinshan came by order, so he naturally had to make his words clear in front of Fan Zhen at one time.

However, Fan Zhen interjected first, and said eagerly: "Yang Jiong knows the depth of his sin, and is willing to donate all his family property, quit all his errands, study behind closed doors at home, and never ask about the world." ”

Liu Jinshan came here to talk about Yang Jiong, but unexpectedly, he was robbed by Fan Qian.

Seeing that Liu Jinshan was silent, Fan Zhen sighed lightly and said, "Brother Guangqing, you are also one of the leaders of Confucianism, do you have to watch Confucianism completely collapse?" ”

That's quite mysterious!

In today's cabinet, Li Qiong and Zhe Congruan are both old, and the days they stay in the phase are numbered.

And Liu Jinshan is only in his forties now, and the days he will be in the cabinet in the future will be very long.

The forbidden army in the imperial court, the Tiqi Division, the Police Temple and other powerful yamen, naturally only listened to Li Zhongyi's greetings. However, if Liu Jinshan wants to sit firmly, he will inevitably need a group of middle-level officials who follow the flag-waving and shouting.

In other words, it is not good for Liu Jinshan to wipe out the Wenchen Group. If, using Fan Qian's residual power, all the Fan Wenchen were co-opted, it would actually be a great thing for Liu Jinshan.

It's just that the difficulty is that Yang Jiong is a confidant of Fan Zhiyan, who registered with Li Zhongyi, but he just donated all his family property and studied behind closed doors, I'm afraid it will be difficult to pass the test.

Liu Jinshan has been weighing the pros and cons, Fan Zhen is calm and calm on the surface, but in fact, he is also uneasy in his heart.

However, what Fan Zhen didn't expect was that Li Zhongyi had already guessed that he would speak for Yang Jiong.

Before Liu Jinshan came to Fan's mansion, Li Zhongyi personally taught him to take advantage of the opportunity and take the opportunity to incorporate the civil affairs of Fan's family.

How to say it, although Fan Zhen has lost momentum, his political vision is still long-term and keen. Except for Yang Jiong, who was disobedient and insisted on making trouble, the rest of the people kept to themselves and did not get involved in the dispute at all.

Pulling one faction, fighting another, mixing sand, beating sticks, and digging corners are the norm in the political arena.

From Li Zhongyi's point of view, he did not plan to completely collapse the Wenchen Group. After all, the power of the imperial court needs to be checked and balanced by each other, not by allowing one side to dominate.

The emperor's mental technique, to put it bluntly, is Li Hongzhang's famous saying: Don't let everyone conspire with me!

In the hundreds of years of the two Song Dynasty, the Song emperors of all dynasties regarded the logic of checks and balances mixed with different theories as the fundamental principle of governing the country.

Of course, believing in different theories and truly achieving checks and balances on power are actually two different things.

Li Zhongyi did start with martial arts, but there was no reason to rule the country on a horse. Whether it is Confucianism or a hundred schools of thought, the administrative power of the imperial court must be held by civil officials after all.

Separation of civil and military, separation of military and government!

Wenchen must not intervene in specific military commands, and military generals must not interfere with the affairs of the imperial court, which is one of the fundamental principles of Li Zhongyi's governance.

Liu Jinshan pretended to be very embarrassed, in fact, he had basically accepted Fan's statement in his heart. It's just that Liu Jinshan still needs a step to step down.

"Brother Guangqing, as the saying goes, those who know the times are Junjie. At the beginning, the emperor raised the soldiers of Pinglu and seized the country of the Zhou family, to put it mildly, the old man was not very convinced. However, the emperor led a strong army to the Northern Expedition, except for the four states of Ying, Huan, Shuo, and Yun, which were still in the hands of Liu Han's small court, he recaptured the twelve states of Youji from the hands of the Khitans. Fan Zhen sighed heavily, "Emperor, the strong soldiers and horses are strong, this is the general trend of the world, and it cannot be violated." ”

"Okay, Xianggong said it well." Liu Jinshan was waiting for this excuse, and he immediately arched his hand, "Go to the palace in the next place, do your best, and strive to protect the Confucian lineage." ”

Okay, the deal was reached, and Fan Zhen finally dropped the heart that had been hanging in mid-air!

Yang Jiong, who was hiding in the back room, couldn't help but burst into tears, Fan Zhen even said it cheekily for him, what did the husband say?

Li Zhongyi arrested more than 20,000 scholars, Confucian scholars and their families at one time, and the blow to Confucianism can be described as extremely severe.

However, since it is to contend, Li Zhongyi will naturally not completely squeeze Confucianism to the ground, and he will never be able to turn over.

After entering the current dynasty, it is impossible for Li Zhongyi to continue to reuse the paradigm. After all, Fan Zhen's qualifications are too old, Li Zhongyi uses his words, and in the cabinet, Fan Zhen can be the master of the house.

However, many of the civil servants of the Fan Quality Department have strong administrative ability. Absorbing these people into Liu Jinshan's command can not only improve the efficiency of various institutions of the imperial court, but also conform to Li Zhongyi's basic principle of checks and balances on power, so why not?

In layman's terms, it is a good thing to let Fan Zhen continue to be idle at home, but to reuse the Wenchen of the Fan system.

Of course, this is only a transitional employment strategy. After the students of the Military and Political Academy gradually stepped into high positions, at that time, all the important ministers of the Manchu Dynasty were members of the Li family, which was Li Zhongyi's ultimate goal.

After Liu Jinshan entered the palace again, Li Zhongyi listened to his description and couldn't help but smile slightly: "Guangqing, Fan Zhen is worthy of being an old minister of the Four Dynasties, and the kung fu of calculating people is completely unchanged from the past." ”

Liu Jinshan smiled and said: "Your Majesty, what you need most is time, and in another ten years, the situation in the court will be very different." ”

Li Zhongyi smiled dumbly, what Liu Jinshan meant was that in another ten years, with the smooth implementation of the miscellaneous science and the students of the Military and Political Academy, they have climbed up from the grassroots level.

At that time, the central cabinet of the imperial court, as well as the hundreds of military states in the world, their rulers were all real protégés of the Son of Heaven.

"Guangqing, you go back and think about it, carefully screen it, and see who it is and which position it should be used." Li Zhongyi implicitly hinted, and Liu Jinshan immediately understood that he was already Li Zhongyi's default candidate for future prime minister.

After Liu Jinshan retreated, Li Zhongyi ordered someone to call Zhou Zhaoxin, the director of the war room of the General Staff Department.

In the General Staff Department, the most powerful thing is the war room, and the all-day movement of the forbidden army and the battle plan are all issued by the war room.

Zhou Zhaoxin, the current director of the war room, is also from the Hechi Township Army, and belongs to one of Li Zhongyi's oldest old subordinates, so he is particularly trusted.

It didn't take much effort for Zhou Zhaoxin to stand in front of Li Zhongyi. According to the usual practice, the head of the war house has to meet Li Zhongyi every day.

"Right, after the autumn harvest, the winter rotation training will start soon, how are you preparing over there?" Li Zhongyi picked up the teacup and took a sip.

"Your Majesty, according to the results of the summer rotation training, the war room believes that the scope of the winter rotation training should be expanded to all areas north of the Yellow River......" Zhou Zhaoxin, as the head of the war room, has to meet Li Zhongyi every day, and he naturally understands the importance of the rotation training of the Xiang Army and the Township Army in two seasons a year.

Li Zhongyi has explained very clearly, the Xiang Army is the first substitute for the Imperial Court Forbidden Army, and the Township Army is the substitute team for the Xiang Army.

According to the plan for strengthening the army, the troops stationed in Tunxiang throughout the country and the township armies in various prefectures and counties must undergo irregular reviews under the mobilization system.

In the entire empire, there are currently less than 200,000 elite forbidden troops. According to the plan of the General Staff Department, the number of personnel in the national forbidden army will be expanded by 300,000.

The team of 100,000 people needs to be expanded into the ranks of the imperial forbidden army, which requires the selection of talents from the two seasons of rotation training every year.