When an army of 70,000 goes on an expedition and has to keep secrets, the difficulty can be imagined.

Li Zhongyi dealt with government affairs and military affairs as usual every day, and the army took advantage of the night to march northward in an endless stream, from Kaifeng to Zhenzhou, the front line of the army, and the roads along the way were already under military control.

Among the major forces of this era, Li Zhongyi is the monarch who likes to play martial law tricks the most, and the purpose is also very clear, which greatly increases the difficulty of transmitting news back to Jinyang or sending it to Youzhou.

In these years, from the official road, the use of post horses to deliver news is the fastest and most convenient way to transmit messages.

The meticulous workers lurking in the Great Zhou can also send news to the north over the mountains and mountains, but the timeliness will be greatly reduced. It is likely that the news of the Great Zhou's dispatch of troops has not yet reached Jinyang, and the Li family's army has already attacked the city.

Therefore, every time before sending troops, Li Zhongyi's favorite thing to do is to sprinkle out all the special reprimands. One part controls the official road, and the other is ambushed in the countryside, capturing the fine works heading north anytime and anywhere.

In fact, there is no need to carefully distinguish the authenticity of the meticulous work, only need to detain them for a while, and when martial law is lifted, even if they continue to send news north, it will be too late.

After the vanguard army had advanced more than 100 miles north, Li Zhongyi slowly summoned the three ministers of the cabinet and publicly announced the military action to capture Jinyang.

Wei Renpu immediately froze, he didn't even hear the slightest rumor of such a big action, and the secrecy work was really rigorous.

Liu Jinshan saw that Wei Renpu and Kong Kun's eyes were on him, he couldn't help but smile bitterly, to put it bluntly, he had only heard a little wind in advance, but Wei and Kong thought that he had already known but did not report it.

How to say it, under Li Zhongyi's command, the civil and military path is the established policy. That is to say, Wenchen is not allowed to interfere in the military, and in the same way, the military is not allowed to interfere in government affairs, this is a political high-voltage line, who touches who pills.

The movement of grain, weapons, and baggage in the inner warehouse and the warehouse on the outskirts of Beijing was unusually frequent, and the ministers were also speculating at first whether Li Zhongyi had any major military operations.

However, this review of the township army lasted for half a year, and the ministers gradually became accustomed to it.

Unexpectedly, Li Zhongyi Ming repaired the plank road, secretly crossed Chencang, and adopted strategic deception methods, and Mingli put on a four-sided attack, in fact, he wanted to recover Jinyang.

That's right, what Li Zhongyi did was strategic deception. The army gathered in Kaifeng and practiced for half a year, what did they want to do?

At the beginning, Li Jing, the lord of the Southern Tang Dynasty, was nervous to death, and he was worried from the Spring Festival to the Cold Food Festival, and from the Cold Food Festival to the summer solstice.

However, the strong neighbors in the north have remained silent and have not brazenly sent troops to invade the Southern Tang Dynasty.

Now, after Li Zhongyi was in the upper study and announced the mystery, everyone suddenly realized. Dare to be affectionate, Li Zhongyi has been tossing for so long, and the goal has always been Jinyang.

"Lord, you must not take your life lightly." Kong Kun's reaction was extremely fast, since the dispatch of troops was a foregone conclusion, it was useless to say more, it was better to start with Li Zhongyi's safety, it was possible to find a gap in Wenchen's intervention in the military.

The four ministers of the cabinet, even though their respective positions are very different, have invariably maintained a consistent attitude on the matter of using civilian means to control the armed forces.

The various yamen set up by the imperial court, whether intentionally or unintentionally, had a potential driving force for self-expansion, and were not subject to human will.

The Cabinet is no exception!

At the beginning of the establishment of the cabinet, it was replaced by the political affairs hall that controlled the major policies of the world. However, the government affairs hall governs the government with its left hand and manages money with its right hand, and its real power is amazing.

Today's cabinet can neither really manage money nor meddle in the military, and has lost the personnel power to appoint and dismiss officials below the sixth grade.

In fact, according to Li Zhongyi's thinking, the role of the cabinet is roughly equivalent to that of the military aircraft department in later generations, and the elevated political hall is similar to the Senate in the late Qing Dynasty.

The establishment of the Cabinet (Military Aircraft Department) has not only strengthened the centralization of power at the level of the state system, but also weakened the ability of the civilian bureaucracy or local feudal officials to meddle in national affairs.

As for the civil and military affairs, civil servants were not allowed to interfere in the military, and military ministers were not allowed to foresee government affairs, which made the imperial power's control over violent institutions guaranteed by a fundamental system.

From then on, the Wenchen clique could no longer take advantage of the loopholes in the system of using literature to control military force and unscrupulously hijack imperial power.

"Foolish Mountain Xianggong, how is such a monstrous feat recorded in the history books?" Li Zhongyi asked Kong Kun with a smile.

Kong Kunwan didn't expect that Li Zhongyi would talk about the master, but he was speechless for a while, and he choked.

In the history books, the military generals whose merits are unparalleled, but who has a good death, if Wang Jian ranks second, who dares to be the first?

In addition to Wang Jian, that is, Guo Ziyi, other famous generals, such as Bai Qi and Han Xin, all died unexpectedly and could not die well.

Li Zhongyi glanced at the three ministers present, and said lightly: "You are all scholars, although I am a soil bun who doesn't know a few words, but I also know a truth: when the merit is not rewarded, is it time to unload the mill and kill the donkey?" ”

Li Zhongyi's question made Wei Renpu, Liu Jinshan, and Kong Kun, who were present, completely unable to refute, so they had to lower their eyes and remain silent.

"Although Lone is not the lord of the light, he is not the lord of the weak, when there is nothing to reward, isn't he deliberately harming the confidants and ministers who have followed me for many years?" Li Zhongyi sighed lightly, "So, my personal conquest is the way to protect important ministers, you can talk about it, is it so reasonable?" ”

Kong Kun is worthy of being a wealthy scholar and a wealthy Hongru, his reaction is extremely fast, and he immediately said: "The Lord is personally recruited, I don't know who can take on the important task of supervising the country?" ”

Wei Renpu also wanted to talk about the prison country, but Kong Kun took the lead, in addition to admiring Kong Yushan's quick wisdom, he had to secretly shake his head and sigh.

Liu Jinshan and Kong Kun have always been at odds, he couldn't help but glance at Kong Kun, and said in his heart, it is worthy of being an old ginger, all the sons of the lord are young, who can be imprisoned?

Li Zhongyi had expected this question, and he said unhurriedly: "There are three sons, but they are all minors, and it is a strange news in the world for young children to govern the country." If the four ministers of the cabinet are in agreement, they can act as a substitute for the country. ”

After Kong Kun heard this, he couldn't help but gasp, and then he was shocked and blurted out: "No, it's not proper, it's not allowed!" How can the power of the king be allowed to be touched by his subordinates? ”

Li Zhongyi didn't look at Kong Kun, but instead set his eyes on Wei Renpu, he is the prime minister, similar earth-shattering events, it is impossible not to have a clear attitude, right?

Wei Renpu sighed secretly, the four ministers of the cabinet have the same opinion, it is easy to say, how easy is it to say?

The political hall is also a group system, but when Fan Zhen was the prime minister, he really did what he said and followed the law.

Although the cabinet is also a group system, the real power of the current four ministers is more than ten streets worse than the authority of the old government hall.

In Wei Renpu's view, the collective supervision of the four phases of the country is equivalent to putting the great responsibility of pouring the sky on their shoulders.

Liu Jinshan was also secretly a little surprised, Li Zhongyi is simply not playing cards according to common sense, according to the basic principle of governing the country according to the law and the law, shouldn't he choose his elders from among Li Zhongyi's sons to supervise the country?

Li Zhongyi saw that everyone didn't dare to say anything, he couldn't help but curl the corners of his mouth slightly, hehe, if you let the young son supervise the country, isn't it at the mercy of the old foxes in the cabinet?

Rather than allowing the cabinet ministers to have room to shirk their responsibilities, it is better to simply push them all to the forefront, so that the three responsibilities of responsibilities and rights coincide with each other, and only then is the best policy.

To put it bluntly, as long as the power of the military and police is firmly in the hands of Li Zhongyi, who will be the supervisor of the country, is it really important?

Could it be that after Li Zhongyi led the army to the expedition, the ministers had the courage to change the various national policies he set without authorization?

Since nothing can be changed, it is better to let the ministers be majestic and put a thousand burdens on their shoulders, lest they calculate all day long to increase the power of the prime minister and weaken the power of the monarch.

Liu Jinshan could see that Li Zhongyi was a little dissatisfied with him recently, and he didn't even reveal the slightest news to him in advance. However, who called him Liu Jinshan is the prime minister, expanding the scope of authority of the cabinet, that is the duty of the ministers, and whoever will be the prime minister is the same!

After several rounds of back-and-forth lawsuits, the three ministers of the cabinet really couldn't resist Li Zhongyi, so they had to reluctantly agree to collectively supervise the country.

After subduing the cabinet ministers, Li Zhongyi looked at the military information sent from the front with great interest. It didn't take much effort, there was a report outside the door, and Li Yanqing, the secretary of the police temple, asked to see him.

"Lord, everything is ready." Li Yanqing easily didn't dare to say anything, this time he was unprecedentedly sure, which made Li Zhongyi feel rare.

"Hehe, tell me, why are they all ready?" Li Zhongyi put down the military intelligence report in his hand and raised his eyes to look at Li Yanqing.

Li Yanqing took out a stack of secret reports from his sleeve, and said in an unusually clear report: "If you go back to your master, all the major traffic arteries inside and outside the capital are all planted with our people, some of them are disguised as small vendors, and some are real blacksmiths......

Li Zhongyi narrowed his eyes, and after listening to Li Yanqing's report, he slowly asked him: "What if my family's cook takes advantage of the opportunity to go out, drill through a few alleys, and secretly meet with a certain important minister's purchase?" ”

Li Yanqing smiled coldly and said, "In the huge capital, it is impossible for the owner of the Police Temple to monitor every family member of the wealthy and powerful, but the villain is sure that at the beginning of the change, he can pass the news to the Nine Gate Admiral's Mansion......"

"Hehe, even if you are smart, you must have used a lot of brains and played countless tricks, right?" After Li Zhongyi listened, he secretly praised Li Yanqing without a trace.

Li Yanqing lowered his head and whispered: "The little one can grab the bull's nose, the main reason is that what you said is too right, Xiucai meets the soldiers, and it is unreasonable to say." ”

Li Zhongyi couldn't help but smile, what he said was actually the following: There are all kinds of power in the world, and military power is the most important!